On the surface,
Bullistic may seem like another
Pantera-sounding hardcore-metal band, but dig a bit deeper and the Richmond, VA, quartet may surprise you a bit, as it tends to have more in common sonically with
Black Sabbath and
Alice in Chains. On its debut full-length, 2005's
Chronicles of Love & Hate, the band keeps the riffs and venom coming from beginning to end. Standouts include "Doomsday's Coming" -- which contains a riff that bears more than just a passing resemblance to
Accept's "Balls to the Wall" -- and "Discarded Soul," which sounds quite a bit like the aforementioned
Alice in Chains. And ever since "Stuck in the Middle with You" by
Stealer's Wheel was used in the grisly/infamous "ear" scene from Quentin Tarantino's classic Reservoir Dogs, it was just a matter of time until a band gave it a heavy metal makeover. And
Bullistic beat everyone to the punch (despite it being erroneously listed as just "Stuck in the Middle"). Fans of
Black Label Society-esque biker metal should check out
Chronicles of Love & Hate -- after all, there are quite a few tracks here worthy of pounding a beer to. ~ Greg Prato