Review: Chevelle - Hats Off To The Bull; Score: 4 / 5

10 years and 5 albums later, Chevelle have perfected a sound they can call their own and created an album that puts them safely at the top of the Hard Rock genre.

Chevelle is a band that has consistently been putting out great records and constantly been pushing its boundaries of sound and song-writing. In my opinion, Chevelle has never made a bad album. Every album from their first album Point #1, when they were just teenagers, they've constantly pushed the envelope and have just written some of the most amazing songs ever. Songs both filled with emotion and at times ferocity of the heaviest metal songs you've heard. And due to this reason, Chevelle has a rather good standing within the Metal community.

 With Hats Off To The Bull, they've used the sound they perfected with Sci-Fi Crimes and have written amazing songs reminiscent of both the power and emotion of the Wonder What's Next and This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In) era, along with the high production value and sound quality of Vena Sera and Sci-Fi Crimes era.

The album starts off with the heavy groove-laden 'Face To The Floor'. Chevelle have never written a song as groovy as this one. I use the term "groovy" not like the 70's disco-era, but rather as how the djent scene use it. The opener is a good upbeat song that serves as a reminder that Chevelle knows how to write catchy songs with memorable riffs such as 'The Clincher' from the album This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In).

The next few songs do not go along the same lines as the opener, where the band dwells into more morose songs such as 'Same Old Trip', 'Ruse' and the Bernie Madoff inspired track 'The Meddler'. 'Ruse' is very emotional and is one of the stand-out tracks of the album along with 'The Meddler'.

After going through such emotional "Chevelle-ish" songs we go into 'Piñata'. Another upbeat song with one of the best solos Chevelle has ever written, but is very similar to a solo I heard by another huge band, Queens Of The Stone Age.

From 'Piñata', we come to the most powerful songs Chevelle has ever written since 'Closure' from the Wonder What's Next album, 'Envy'. This track is one of my favorite tracks off the album and is just the most powerful and emotional song I've heard in a very long time. This song truly shows off Pete Loeffler's ability to write amazing lyrics, such as my favorite verse, "I may not win the race/ I may not reach the top/ Or I may not live your way/ Doesn't mean I'm stuck here". And when this is sung with Pete's angelic voice, which could make a grown man cry, it just completely drives the nail in. This track is also the first time I've ever seen Chevelle use a string arrangement to complement their songs, but its a perfect addition for the track. The song is actually rather uplifting if you read the lyrics, but its hard to say when they create such a morose atmosphere with the haunting drums, the strings and Pete's pain-filled voice. 

After 'Envy' completely destroys your self-esteem, we go off to the track which shares the same name of the album 'Hats Off To The Bull'. Its a very upbeat and catchy song that Chevelle knows how to do very well. The next are 'Arise', which is also a very uplifting song, and 'Revenge' which is another amazing emotional song which Chevelle writes well.

The next track 'Prima Donna' is the token acoustic track that Chevelle always have in their album. Though its not their best acoustic track (their best is actually 'Bend The Bracket' from This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In), but this is no doubt a good acoustic track.

'Clones', the last track off the album is a good closer. It ends the album in an upbeat yet provocative manner, asking us to stand up and change the way we live and not be clones.

This is an amazing album, and Chevelle have truly out-done themselves by writing some of their best songs they've written for this album. The album flows well and is a treat to listen to. But the only fault I could find was that after the 1st half of the album, the songs could not hold my attention, and after 'Envy' I sort of just drifted off. The 2nd half is not as memorable as the 1st half and they seemed uninspired. But nonetheless, this is truly a great album worthy as an addition to Chevelle's already amazing track record. And like I mentioned earlier, Chevelle has never made a bad album, and this album is testament to that.