Bullet – Highway Pirates

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There are four prominent bands at the moment who seem to be battling each other to see who can copy AC/DC most accurately without resorting to being a fully-fledged tribute band. These are Bullet, Airbourne, Bonafide and Big Ball. All signed to different labels, and all seeing varying levels of success (Airbourne having reached the highest so far), Big Ball’s album is the best, but it’s still a carbon copy of AC/DC. Bullet, now at the third time of asking, are definitely up their in the plagiarism stakes. The horrifically cliché-ridden Highway Pirates makes absolutely no advancements from 2008′s Bite The Bullet, except perhaps in the crisp production, and simply shows that their desire to mimic the legends of hard rock is shameless. There are occasions when vocalist Dag Hofer doesn’t sound note-for-note like Brian Johnson, but in those instances he instead sounds exactly like Jesse James Dupree, so it’s not really any more impressive. So there’s nothing really to add. This is more of the same. Anyone previously able to stomach Bullet’s rip-off sound and simply enjoy what is admittedly a well-executed hard rock album for its pure fun value will be able to do so again. Anyone disgusted by their attempts to copy their heroes will not have their minds changed by Highway Pirates. It is what it is and there seems to be no sign of changing or improving it.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Hard Rock, Quick.Play Reviews, Bullet