Written by a former Royal Marine Commando, who had the battlefield nickname aptly "Bullet Magnet," the song offers a rousing meditation on fate, survival, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, over and over again. This is the sound of a survivor telling it like it is with his eyes wide open and his scars held high.
Tom, the band's singer and rhythm guitarist, renders that story with lyrical depth and emotional heft, his voice on a tightrope between world-weary wisdom and dogged hope. The rhythm section, propelled by Graham's solid bass and Julia's crisp, percussive feel, imparts a sturdy pulse that reflects the heartbeat of someone who has weathered chaos and survived to tell the tale. Julia offers harmonies that lend a ghostly vulnerability under the grit.
And there's Will, the lead guitarist, whose solos talk. There are moments in every track on "Bullet Magnet" where the notes feel carefully placed, as though memories are being sewn together with six strings and electricity. His playing lends the track a soaring quality that lifts the burden of the track's emotional weight, though not into escape, at least into perspective.
"Bullet Magnet" feels irrepressibly Northern, from its unvarnished honesty to its grainy guitar-driven production and blend of melody and muscle. Velvet Iguanas etch their own tales from wood into a real sound that will bite. With "Bullet Magnet," they've made one of their most intimate songs to date and shown that storytelling still counts for something in rock music. It's a bulletproof song from a band that is in the right place and time.
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