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There's always a certain amount of excitement when you get a chance to put
a brand new Motorhead album in your CD player and I'll tell you......about
half-way through the first song, with a big smile on my face, I could feel the
raw energy and excitement just like it used to be for me years ago listening
to albums such as Overkill, Ace Of Spades and Iron Fist.
This album has moments that relive past glories and also contains a few soon
to be Motorhead classics. The current line-up up of Lemmy (vocals/bass),
Phil Campbell (guitar) and Mikkey Dee (drums) has been together for quite a
few years now and I think captures the essence of the Motorhead sound
as well as or if not better than any line-up in the past. This album is a great
mix of all sorts of styles all done in primo Motorhead fashion. I lost
touch a bit with the band through the 80's but I think every album since 1916
has been a strong one (some better than others but all still good!!!). Very
few bands have such a characteristic sound with Lemmy providing the typical
scowl of his demented poetry and the grinding, gritty guitar riffs. Phil Cambell
really serves up some tasty guitar riffs and licks on this album. The first
track, Walk A Crooked Mile, is a solid mid-temp rocker and features Lemmy
doing some background vocal harmonizing (a little strange for a Motorhead
album but hell, he can do whatever he wants and it still fits!!!). He poises
many questions in this song such as "If you were Armageddon, who would you spare?"......"If
you were a soldier...what would you bleed?"....and an absolute classic line
"We hold rehearsals for your death......we're tired of your smile". This song
is an instant classic. The track has great riffs and finishes with a cool Wah-Wah
lead by Phil. Brave New World, another great track, is a good fast-paced
rocker in which Lemmy tackles the corruption that exists in modern day society
and paints a pretty bleak outlook for the future. The song really cooks and
contains another classic line.."God is on your side....but I don't think that
you're on his". As I was first listening to this disc, I kept pausing my CD
player to write down these lines!!!! Voices From The War uses a more
chunkier rhythm guitar sound than usual for the band and is a hard-hitting look
at the horrors of war (a topic Lemmy has written about many times before). A
couple of tracks, in particular, Mine All Mine and Dr. Love have
a straight ahead rockin' bluesy feel to them and remind me a bit of a song like
Going To Brazil (I saw Motorhead on David Letterman about 9 or
10 years ago and they played Going To Brazil with the full CBS Orchestra
with piano and horn section and is was smokin!!... a great song is a great song
no matter how it's played!!). No Remorse is a slower pounding heavy type
of song and features some lower-pitched menacing vocals by Lemmy and really
creates a creepy atmosphere. It also features a change to a fast tempo and finishes
with some cool Wah-Wah leads through to the fade-out at the end......a great
song!!! No Motorhead album would be complete without a blistering rocker
along the likes of Iron Fist, or Ace Of Spades and Red Raw
is just such a song. A smokin' fast cooker of a song that rivals the speed
of early Motorhead material. The final track on the album is actually
a very...very creepy narration by Lemmy called Serial Killer. It features
a look through the eyes of a serial killer using a poetic style in a menacing,
truly Lemmy fashion. The eerie backing sounds add to the overall atmosphere
of this piece.
Motorhead is about to embark on their 25th anniversary tour and although
they have a backlog of classic material and could draw huge crowds just by playing
older material, they march on, releasing album after album of solid material.
This album is no exception and I think is one of the better ones they have done
in quite some time. They never sound dated and have a rough and tumble sound
that never seems to tire. Motorhead is metal royalty and they helped
pave the way for the Heavy Metal explosion that happened in the late 70's and
continued into the late 80's. It says a lot for people like Lemmy who have refused
to sell out and continue to do what he wants to do with this band for so many
years now.
This album is not perfect...Motorhead is not perfect (I'm sure Lemmy
will agree) but it's about as good as it gets with this band........LONG LIVE
MOTORHEAD!!!!!!!!