Artist: Motörhead
Label: SPV Records
Release: 2002
Lemmy and the other two motorheads have fired a fresh shot at planet Earth. A shot? Yes, but only for someone hearing “Motörhead” for the first time.
Maybe Lemmy got doctor’s orders a good year ago, after his heart attack, to start writing mellower music. Then again, when a journalist poked at him that the title “Hammered” misleads fans into expecting the classic full-throttle charge they’re used to from “Motörhead”, Lemmy replied that “Hammered” is the state you reach on drugs and booze. And that’s supposedly how this record came about. The boys were “wasted” while making the new album. Is anyone surprised?
“Walked A Crooked Mile” is a gorgeous opener, too gorgeous for “Motörhead”, with a chorus that’s pure mellow classic, a break from the rock’n’roll. Lemmy even sings it in a thinner voice, forgetting to growl for a moment. The bass line is punky in this one, and in “Down The Line” the riff slips into semitone endings, but very fluidly. The record is, all in all, exactly what you’d expect from Motörhead. If it had opened with a track as unhinged as “Red Raw”, which is tacked on at the end, you probably wouldn’t get the feeling that anything on this record is slow. Aha, I’m already contradicting myself. Anyway, it’s another classic from the motorheads, showing the full indestructibility and timelessness of the iron trio. The songs flow and get into your blood fast. The punchy “No Remorse” is a seriously raw tune, with a heavy riff and less melody. That’s exactly what suits it, because the disgust at Roman Catholic parish hypocrisy in its lyrics is another landing on solid ground, so it has to be backed up with a killer riff. Bravo!
Lyrically, we’re back with Lemmy’s favorite themes: sex (nothing new), booze and, of course, politics. Once again he’s telling us that, for God’s sake, everyone should start thinking with their own noggin and we should quit herding ourselves into flocks. On the lusty “Mine All Mine”, the keyboards are used in really good taste, too.
“Serial Killer” is just a narrative. Lemmy’s, of course. But that wheezing, rasping voice, that labored breathing, that damn solid unveiling of his truth in the verses, that Motörhead trademark, it hits like lightning. It brings “Orgasmatron” to mind.
The superb torpedoing of the drums, the rattle of Lemmy’s Rickenbacker and the screech of Phil’s guitar between riffs, transitions and solos remain, once again, the band’s untarnished cult trademark. The legends are on the march again.
Lineup
Lemmy Kilmister – vocals, bass guitar
Phil Campbell – guitar
Mikkey Dee – drums
Production
Thom Panunzio & Motorhead
Track list
1. Walk a Crooked Mile
2. Down the Line
3. Brave New World
4. Voices from the War
5. Mine All Mine
6. Shut Your Mouth
7. Kill the World
8. Dr. Love
9. No Remorse
10. Red Raw
11. Serial Killer
Running time:45:41
