On its initial outing, this Boston five-piece spews up a metallic-hardcore rainbow comprised of equal parts AC/DC and Circle Jerks. Small in stature yet possessing a wail bigger than Moby Dick, Indiana banshee Yukki Gipe makes up for his lack of singing ability with sheer scream pyrotechnics. By no means groundbreaking, the raucous six-song debut is an excellent intro to a band gleefully making the kind of racket your parents always told you to turn off. (The cassette contains a bonus track.)
Bullet LaVolta’s assault continues on The Gift, a swell, chandelier-shattering collection of powerfully noisy rock songs punctuated by blasts from the lethal twin guitars of Clay Tarver and Ken Chambers (on loan from his other band, Moving Targets). The best cuts — the vaguely psychedelic yowlathon “Blind to You” and the near-pop title song (which cops part of its melody from “You Shook Me All Night Long”) — fairly define the notion of punk-metal crossover, a fact that helped BLV to a major label deal shortly after The Gift‘s release. (The RCA reissue adds two songs from the EP; the Taang! CD appends the whole thing.)
Apparently intended as a stopgap until the second LP, Gimme Danger is actually a worthwhile purchase that delivers two new explosive studio tracks (“Every Hungry Rabbit” and “Transparent Man”) along with three live numbers, including Kiss’ “Detroit Rock City.”