Black Star Bullet - Black Star Bullet (Reissue)

Black Star Bullet

Black Star Bullet (Reissue)

by MarcusTheRocker at 18 August 2014, 1:05 PM

When it comes to reissuing their albums, some bands re-master every track to make it sound more pure and amazing and some will add bonus tracks but I have never ever heard of a band that will re-record the album for a reissued version but that was until I came across a band from the Midlands that go by the name of BLACK STAR BULLET who I will be focusing on in this review.

Originally hailing from Coventry in the Midlands and forming in 2001, this 4 piece British quintet were originally called LOOPHOLE before changing their name in 2010 to BLACK STAR BULLET and releasing their debut self-titled album a year later in 2011. Unfortunately though, during the recording process, the band experienced a few problems and to make things even harder, a technical fault caused them to lose the original recordings, having a few nightmares with the mixing and even getting the cover art finalized was a big headache for the band but now, the new version of their debut self-titled is here in 2014.

So what do we have here then? The debut self-titled from BLACK STAR BULLET is a re-recorded version of their original debut self-titled from 2011 which has a total of 12 tracks spanning across 51 minutes released on TBFM Records. Music wise, the band are one of those simple and straightforward bands who like to do nothing more than Rock and make great sounding original music to be blasted loud.

So, do we have that here with this album or not? Well the answer is, yes we do. In order to make great music, a band needs to keep their recipe and their formula straight forward and simple with no fuss and no added sugar as anything else will just ruin the music and make it sound very poor when played back. Thankfully though, none of that is present on this album as it’s good gritty Rock N' Roll.

Opening with the song “In My Blood”, you get a taster of just what young British Rock bands are about as sometimes youthful energy will shine over those experienced veterans from the 20^th century and here that is the case. I have nothing personal against the classic British Rock bands but I find it great when new bands come along that are made up of young Rockers that can help to remind the classic bands of their youthful days and how their music would have sounded if it was recorded in this day and age.

Back to the album now as mentioned before, this is an album filled with good gritty, simple and straightforward no nonsense Rock and Roll. There really is a lot of great talent in this band but then when you used to record music under another band name before changing it, you do sort of know what you are doing. I think what makes this album good is that the music is nice and clear as you can hear every note and every word.

To add a bit more pizzazz and excitement into the mix, the band’s two guitarists Trev Goddard and Andy Trite each take it in turns to sing the lead vocals part and both are very good singers who each have a voice suited for Rock music. On some songs, for example “Energy Daze”, there are parts which are sung by them both together almost as it if a duet was there or it could be a backing vocalist that I hear but it doesn’t really matter either way.

There is also some good bass work going on from bassist Martin Hughes and you can really hear the bass lines in a lot of the music and some songs, for example “This Is Rock N’ Roll” and “8.50 AM” that start with really groovy bass melodies. The drumming from Gav Hunt is very good as well.

It’s time for that all important verdict and needless to say it scores very well for me. From start to finish, each track is simple, straightforward no nonsense Rock and Roll with plenty of talent and energy and not a single ballad in sight but then with a band like this, you don’t need that. I don’t know what they sounded like as LOOPHOLE but I can imagine the music was great as that’s exactly what we get with their new name BLACK STAR BULLET. If you like your British Rock music and if you like music that is simple and straightforward but is very enjoyable in its simplicity, then BLACK STAR BULLET is one band you should be keeping an eye on.