Last Bullet – 80-69-64

Liam Savage — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:44:05 +0000

Hailing out of Toronto, Last Bullet are delivering hard rock music that harkens back to times past while keeping their feet firmly rooted in today’s crowded music scene. After slogging it out on the road supporting many legendary and popular current acts since 2010, and with two EP’s released up until 2012, they’ve finally released some new music after a five year recording absence in the form of their new EP 80-69-64.

With six songs clocking in at a mere nineteen minutes in length, it’s safe to assume that the band is going down the short and sweet path to songwriting. The opening song ‘Sin’ pulls off a commanding dirty guitar riff march which goes back and forth between full-on and palm-muted. Soulful and somewhat raspy vocals by Bryan Fontez help to provide a great contrast to the sleazy nature of the music. ‘Gimme Time’ is a bottom-heavy rocker that comes off like an arena rock anthem, with the drums providing a great clap-along opportunity for their fans in a live presence. The song is a little too short for my liking though.

‘Bright Lights’ has a slow and sultry approach which gives off images of riding down a dusty highway on a Harley, while ‘Southern Lips’ evokes AC/DC crossed with southern rock. It’s simple and to the point. ‘Smoke & Ashes’ shows off a punchy approach courtesy of guitarists Brenden Armstrong and Michael Silva, bassist Will Shannon and drummer Christopher Galaz, and ‘Little Miss Filthy’ gives a big nod to the sleaze of past bands like maybe Faster Pussycat meets Buckcherry.

Last Bullet give us a great mix of dirty 80’s hair metal, stripped-down 90’s hard rock and dashes of southern rock influence with an underlying blues sensibility that’s prevalent in every song. This music won’t reinvent rock or be looked at with incredible originality, but it’s character and working-man approach to songwriting sets the bar high for other bands to compete with them.

I often times need bands like this with a bare-bones approach to rock music to remind me that sometimes less is more. That’s not a knock on this band at all, but when you listen to as much progressive music as I tend to do, it’s important to get back to basics and realize that it takes a special kind of talent to craft this accessible yet ballsy approach to rock. It’s a throwback in a lot of ways with the delivery, but it’s genuine as hell and commanding of attention.

With their great DIY approach to promoting their music and presence online and in a live atmosphere, the band can only go further and to higher levels than they are currently achieving.

toronto – Power Of Metal.dk

Last Bullet – 80-69-64