BulletBoys

Behind the Orange Curtain (Crash Music Classics)
By Michael McCarthy

The BulletBoys were one of those bands poised to be the next Van Halen, but far too few took them seriously enough because of the length of their hair, even if they did refuse to play ballads and do the whole AquaNet thing. And since they didn’t have that killer ballad to put them on the proverbial hair metal map, they never even achieved the notoriety of, say, a Skid Row or Cinderella. It’s unfortunate though. BulletBoys’ Marq Torien has always had one hell of a voice, even when he’s screeching at the top of his lungs, sacrificing it all in the name of down and dirty rock ‘n’ roll. And their songs have always kicked some fucking ass in the tradition of AC/DC and old Judas Priest. (They can even rock that Donald Trump song; “For The Love of Money.”) So with pipes and tunes that arguably sound best performed live, one has to wonder why the hell it’s taken them so long to put out a live album. Now that they have, my only complaint about the career-spanning album full of raw, energetic performances is that it’s only one disc – a mere12 songs. Well, that and that the gaps between the songs are fucking annoying, but that’s just the sort of thing one imagines a guy like Torien would do just to get a rise out of you. Besides, somehow it makes the whole thing seem that much more accidental, like you’re listening to a great bootleg. Clearly a must for longtime fans, though probably not a proper introduction for people unfamiliar with the band.
(www.crashmusicinc.com)