Bullet Train Blast – Shake Rattle Racing

Over the past couple of decades, this wee country of ours has done well in terms of death and death thrash, but not so well when it comes to hard rock of the more traditional sort. There seems to be a tendency toward an improvement of that situation. Bullet Blast Train could very well be an important player in the resurgence of Danish hard rock.

Their second album, ‘Shake Rattle Racing’, at times almost sounds like a pastiche of American hard rock from circa later eighties/begin nineties. Bands like Skid Row and Saigon Kick spring to mind. Due to Martin Larsen’s vocal on the album opener and title track and also on When Fools Rise, I’m even taken back to Dangerous Toys whose vocalist had that special pitch. Larsen could easily use that even more if you ask me!

Bullet Train Blast is a band who know their (hard) rock history, and with Tue Madsen behind the knobs, they also have the sound it takes to make it big. And there are really good songs on this album, the title track being one, Oh Desire and When Fools Rise being the most notable ones. The Fighter should also be mentioned for its heavy as f*ck attitude intro.

The heavy as f*ck attitude is actually what I miss more of. Songs like Broken and Right Reason are kind of lost in the mix because there’s too little attitude and stuff we’ve simply heard before and don’t really need more of. They’re not bad songs by any means, they’re just not that interesting.

So, Bullet Blast Train, I’m looking forward to hearing more from you, but I hope for a full album with only proverbial kicks in the teeth.

Track list:

1. Shake Rattle Racing
2. Head Above Water
3. Game Over
4. Right Reasons
5. Broken
6. I Think I’ll Stay
7. Oh Desire
8. When Fools Rise
9. My Life Got New Meaning
10. Standing In The Darkness
11. Rock’n’Roller
12. The Fighter

Playing time: 43 minutes

Release date: 3rd of July, 2015

Label: Mighty Music

Website: www.facebook.com/bullettrainblast