This must be what it felt when those who grew up on Metallicas initial output first looked upon their bluesy Load-era work. All subdued compositions, guy-liner, haircuts and rockstar pomposity, it appeared the world had gone mad, as back then one of the biggest underdog-bands on the planet got a taste of stardom and took their punk-rock attitude of rebellion to new heights. Back to Bullet though, and although the comparisons between the two end there, the feeling of what has happened to these guys?! is a strong one, especially when taking new single Raising Hell as indicative of what the band are capable of when they realise theyve gone too far down the pop-route on last years Temper Temper. Bullet remain a band that I find it impossible to give up on, primarily due to an abundance of perfected live shows and little glimpses of what theyre capable of awash a tornado of disappointing latter-day output. For every throaty scream powered by a thunderous instrumental section, commanding the banging of heads like that of Breaking Points intro, there are horrifically syrupy ballads such as Bittersweet Memories and Dead to the World, bringing the whole bands discography down. Thats not to mention the extremely plaintive delivery of already subpar lyrics that whilst they make the band easily accessible to a mainstream audience, are genuinely laughable for the rest of us (Check Saints & Sinners, the aforementioned ballads, or just anything from Temper Temper if you want to have a good ol chucklefest). I write this as a huge fan of the band, although I dont think being such a thing means blindly defending everything they put their name to, therefore the following are a summation of talking points Ive heard everywhere from online forums to CD aisles in high-street stores since their latest full work dropped in February.