BulletBoys-Elefante



BulletBoys-Elefante

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
Benjamin Franklin 

By: Ghost Writer
It's amazing how the old mainstream is today's underground, and how that underground has the magic to revitalize a musical project, how that "back to the roots and the streets" is a life changing experience capable of turning a band into something else, something powerful once again...of course, only if the band is tough enough to endure the hard process.

In the case of the BulletBoys, well, the band is Hard as a Rock, as we all now and now, it sound larger than an elephant, a name (Elefante) that clearly reflects their sound, I was a big fan of them in the 90s, a time when hard rock was plagued by GnR and Poison clones, and the scene became a stagnated that it quickly felt apart, backlashing even the most talented bands, like the BulletBoys (like Cinderella, Kix, Enuff Znuff and Faster Pussycat among them) who were working hard on creating a name and a sound all their own (How many bands of that time and scene covered the OJays and Tom Waits?), hell, here they cover a song from Elton John (and they previously released a great covers album).

With a new band behind him, BulletBoys front man Marq Torien presents an ambitious record with strong melodies and decibels high enough to draw big attention these days, Torien never afraid of risking it all has written new songs and surrounded them with heavy riffing and tough rhythms, the result? One of the great hard rock records of recent years, resolving the issue of guitars, which I think left them a little weak on certain spots in past records, here guitars roar in a splendid way.

Gone is the Van Halen influence that plagued some of the band's first recordings, the comparisons were valid, but not so accurate, and the new sound  features really loud guitars and powerful a rhythm section, the band's sound is greatly updated thanks to a drummer that seems to have studied the best techniques from Dave Grohl in his time in Nirvana, as drums here work as a way to liberate the songs from hard rock clichés, pushing them toward heavier, more contemporary territories, as the band's dynamic is presented here as one of the true new strengths in the band.

Torien is in top form here, wailing like a banshee in vengeance mood, with lots to prove and little to lose, Torien sounds angry and strong, with better shape than most of his contemporary partners in the pop metal or hard rock bands from the nineties, more centered in music and less lost in the new times, unlike other bands like Motley Crue, or Poison, leaders in the genre in the 90s, the BulletBoys definitely sound more accustomed to the new times and here they definitely put that confidence in display.

Elefante shows strong songwriting and a great instrumental playing, Torien is awesome as leader of an almost anonymous band, but efficient never the less, as the band is able to sound even hungrier than how it sounds in the past, Toriens attitude is amazing and he pushed his band forward all the times, with some weak spots here and the there but nothing really terrible, with a raw and full sound that might have given the band a better fate in the past, maturity has done wonders for Mr. Torien, but BulletBoys glory days are definitely a thing of the past, from a time when “heavy metal drummers played in the summer” as Jeff Tweedy used to sing in Heavy Metal Drummer, yes, we all miss that innocence, when they played kiss covered beautiful and stoned...



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