Bullets and Octane – Waking Up Dead
Bullets and Octane
Waking Up Dead
Released 25th May 2018
Hard Rock/Punk-rock
Released via Bad MoFo Records/Cargo Records
‘Waking Up Dead’ is the latest album from the American hard rock band Bullets and Octane. These guys have been around since 2003 and they have had several successful tours all over the world supporting bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Korn and Deftones.
This is my first encounter with their music. I have to admit that I chose to review this album because of the amusing cover art and the band’s name. They are allegedly a hard rock act but the cover screams punk rock to me. So, let’s see what we have here…
From the opening track Bad Mother Fucker and lyrics such as “I live life for the rock n’ roll…”, it’s pretty evident that these guys don’t take themselves too seriously. Perhaps I wasn’t far off with the punk rock tag because there is definitely a certain angry, angsty punk feel to the music. It’s catchy, energetic and fun to listen to. The vocals also have that punk rock edge and the same can be said about the lyrical themes. Some of the tracks, particularly the ones at the start of the album reminded me of mid-career works by The Offspring.
Others such as Fuck You Song and more mellow-sounding ‘Hostage’ have more of a hard rock feel. There is a greater emphasis on the guitars while the vocals take more melodic tone; the lead vocals that is, there’s still some shouting in the background. Murder Me Baby is another good hard rock tune, simple but very catchy thanks to the guitar work.
Overall, ‘Waking Up Dead’ is fun to listen to even for someone like me, who has had very little exposure to punk rock since high school. Genre-wise it’s probably sandwiched somewhat between punk rock and hard rock. There’s no deep philosophy to be discovered in the lyrics but the music sure is entertaining.
4/5
Iza Raittila
Valkyrian Music 
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