Motörhead-Aftershock

UDR GmbH
2013

Regular visitors to our site should already be aware that I am a huge Motörhead fan. I first heard them some 25 years or so ago after picking up a cassette copy of "Ace Of Spades". Since them I've seen them play live more times then I can remember as both a opening act and as as support act. I've bought the shirts countless times over, have more of their music then I could realistically ever get around to listening to (split between CDs, cassettes, LPs and mp3s) and view Lemmy as the real "God of thunder and rock and roll"! Even better, my first ever review for this site was a write-up on Motörhead's "The Wörld Is Yours"! So yes, I'm a real fanboy when it comes to Lemmy and his band. Given all of that I do find myself in a weird place here. I admit that "Aftershock" shocked me alright, but sadly it was for all the wrong reasons. Well, maybe shocking is too strong of a word as more then anything it just felt sort of ho-hum. A few good tracks are sprinkled throughout 'Aftershock" and there is some really innovative playing from guitarist Phil "Wizzö" Campbell. However, on their 21st studio Lemmy, Phil and drummer Mikkey Dee also sound as if they didn't give a lot of thought towards the concept of diversity. It's not a secret or anything when I say that we all know that Lemmy's vocals and bass playing have always given Motörhead a one-of-a-kind sound and helped them stick out (and that, plainly-speaking here, a lot of Motörhead's material sounds remarkably similar). But even here it just seems as if the material falls into two categories. It sounded to me like the material here on album number 21 was either really good and heavy rocking or just...well, average. No real in-between numbers. I won't give a track by track rundown of everything seeing as "Aftershock" has already been covered a thousand times over online. I'm late the party with mine, but I wanted to give it a few spins to see if I changed my mind. Also, I had been waiting as I ordered a "Fan Pack" edition of this album from Classic Rock Magazine and was hoping it would get to me in a reasonable amount of time. But, the magazine's staff assured me that it was shipped out on October 16th and here it is November 21st and still no sign of it! Even for something that is coming my way from across the pound that's a L-O-N-G amount of time and I'm starting to think that it is as good as lost. I ended up buying just the plain old regular CD then as I grew tired of waiting for something that I now think will never show! Should the fancy package actually arrive though sometime in the next year or so I will be giving either it away or my other "new" copy. Anyway, as you know this is just my opinion of "Aftershock" and these days, thanks in no small part to the rise of technology and all that jazz, you can (probably) hear all of Motörhead's latest release online and then decide for yourself whether it's good, bad, ugly or (like my feeling of it) just ho-hum.

What if?

I remember as a kid enjoying the Marvel comic What if? because each issue examined a world where some element changed and it altered the whole story line and universe we knew. So on occasion I think about what if within the hard rock/metal world and wonder how a band would have been had something not happened the way it did. Here are a few I thought about.

What if Neil Turbin had stayed in Anthrax? History tells us Turbin was out after "Fistful of metal". Joey Belladonna came in, the musical style changed and they became very popular. I prefer Joey Belladonna to Neil Turbin. However "Fistful of metal" was a solid early thrash album and Turbin had a solid screaming style. I wonder what had Anthrax had been like had Turbin stayed and they followed the musical style of their debut. I am not sure they would have become has popular but I still think they would have been a major player in the thrash scene.

What if Fast Eddie Clark had stayed in Motorhead? Ah, those early Motorhead albums are respected and Fast Eddie was a huge part of that sound. Lemmy doesn't like talking about Fast Eddie leaving. I remember when that was a recent event, but now it's three decades ago, Motorhead are still going and Phil Campbell has been the band around five times longer than Clark was yet Clark's is still held in high regard. What if Clark had decided Motorhead was where he always wanted to be and he was content playing that style. The band has often received admiration and jokes about playing the same album over and over. Would that have still been the case had Clark stayed or he have pushed make some changes along the ways? We'll never know, but interesting to think of.

Now anyone who got into Metallica prior to 1988 probably wonders about various scenarios with this band.
What if Mustaine had stayed in the band? What if Cliff had lived? What if their forth LP picked up on the direction of Master of puppets?
Which ever question you go after they all kind of focus the fact that Metallica were hot early on and seem destined to be the next great metal act. However they with And justice for all the style went a direction that was more mellow than their previous albums. It opened them up to more fans and they became even more popular but many fans of their previous work had to wonder what might have been had they not changed so much and stayed heavier. Would Mustaine staying in the band altered this course? Not that Megadeth did everything right, but Mustaine contributed heavily to Metallica's early sound and he may have kept them on that course had he been in the band longer. Some fans think the band may have stayed with the MOP sound had Cliff not died. That probably depends on how great you think Burton's influence was on their sound.

***Feel free to comment on any of the above scenarios or add in your own what if situations.

Top 5 favorite metal best ofs/greatest hits/anthologies

Now I am definitely a whole studio album kind of guy. I feel like any metal band that's worth their weight recorded their studio albums for you to hear and take in all of those songs in that order. That's why best ofs/greatest hits and anthologies don't appeal to me so much. However back in my younger days when I was just getting into bands these kind of albums were a great way to be introduced to a band and there are several of these albums that really made an impression on me. Here are my top five in no real order.

Motorhead-No Remorse
The anthology came out just as the band was putting together the four man line-up that would record "Orgasmatron" two years later. For this album we got a great blast of Motorhead's then relatively short past plus a couple of tracks with the new line-up. Killer anthology.

KISS-Double Platinum
KISS had plenty of faults, but this collection had a lot of their best songs on it. They have always been about making a buck, but at least back then they at least sounded like they were having fun and brought us along for the ride.


Ted Nugent-Great Gonzos! The best of Ted Nugent
This one was frequently found in the bargain bins of most department stores in the mid-1980's and because of that reason it became my introduction to one of the craziest performers of our time. Great collection that I still play fairly often.

Black Sabbath-We sold our soul for rock 'n' roll
Black Sabbath lasted for a long time through numerous lione-up changes and they churned out many albums. However I hear the name Black Sabbath and I think of the first six albums because they are essential Sabbath. This collection pulls songs from those classic albums.

Alice Cooper-Alice Cooper's Greatest hits
Like with Sabbath and KISS, Alice Cooper had a short period that was definitely the peak for this band. For Alice it was with original band and lasted from Love it to death through Muscle of love. It has some of their more accessible songs and less of the quirky and odd tracks, but it's still a fine collection with a great cover to boo.

***Be sure to add in any that you like.

Clash of the album covers

It is...


Anthrax-Worship music

vs.


Motorhead-The world is yours

***Which cover do you prefer?

Clash of the album covers

It is...


Black Sabbath-Neon Knights

vs.


Motorhead-Deaf Forever

***Which cover do you prefer?

Heavy Metal Thunderdome

Time again for Heavy Metal Thunderdome where you pick which album you prefer based on the music. If you think of the early 1980's and England you probably think of the NWOBHM scene and that's understandable because it was a very busy and exciting scene. Yet a lot of veteren bands were going strong or heating up again at the same time as well including Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Ozzy and Budgie. So I picked to of those to pit against one another today. It is...




Black Sabbath-Mob Rules

vs.



Motorhead-The Ace of spades

***Based on the music which album do you prefer?

Clash of the album covers

Here are your choices.


Motorhead-Bomber
vs.


Thin Lizzy-Night Life


***Which cover do you prefer?

Battle of the bands

It is...



Judas Priest

vs.



Motorhead

***Which band do you prefer?

Battle of the bands

So the big question is who can even be a decent match=up for Iron Maiden? I remember back in the '80's when metal magazines would occasionaly bring up the Maiden vs. Priest question. Maybe around 84-85 that would have been a fair match-up, but Priest have dropped greatly since then. Another one that pops upis Black Sabbath vs. Iron Maiden. Not bad, but you get inot the very different line-ups and sounds of Sabbath that kind of make it hard to judge. No, I think the best match-up is....


Iron Maiden

vs.


Motorhead

***Which band do you choose?

Clash of the album covers

Here you go...



Motorhead-We are Motorhead

vs.



Overkill-Immortalis

***Which cover do you prefer?

Replacements

Nowadays pretty much any hard rock/metal band has gone through a number of line-up changes. Some more than others as bands like LA guns and Krokus have gone through more than their share of changes. However there have been times when a replacement comes in and there is perhaps a time of uncertainty. It depends on the musician and sometimes how big the shoes they have to fill are. Music critics are always quick to point to Van Halen and AC/DC changing front man and selling more albums with the replacement, but I always prefered Diamond Dave and Bon Scott. Whenever I think of replacements I also focus in on Iron Maiden. Here is a band that in 1981 were on the rise, the replace Dianno with a much different vocalist in Bruce Dickinson and to say it worked out would be a massive understatement. Years later when Bruce decided to leave Maiden and they were faced with filling the singer spot again. This time they of course the expectations from fans were higher because they were now a major player although in a somewhat turbulent time in the not so metal friendly 1990's. Rumors swirled about who they would get and again they went for a singer different from the predecessor in the form of Wolfsbane vocalist Blayze Bayley. Only this time the results were not as favorable. It wasn't all Bayley's fault as the writing suffered too. Still looking back it doesn't seem that he was the right guy for the job. Maybe that's just hindsight. Then again Maiden are back on top in recent years and Bayley's recent solo efforts have been solid. Another replacement I come to is Ripper Owens in Judas Priest. These were some huge shoes to fill. Halford was the metal vocal god. We knew Maiden without Bruce, but Priest without Rob. Priest went the opposite route of Maiden. Instead of getting a different style they went for a guy who had been in a Priest cover band. The head scratcher for me was they get a guy with the same vocal style, but then change the music to a sound that doesn't really compliment the vocals. The result was two bad albums. Then when Halford came back they came out with two more bad albums with the writing still suffering. Owens has found steady work since, but bounced around as more of a journeyman vocalist. That's the downside. On the upside a surprising one for me was Brian Robertson in Motorhead. Okay he was in Thin Lizzy and he was a solid hard rock guitarist, but a very different style and image from Motorhead. We have all heard the stories of Lemmy complaining about him taking too long in the studio and Robertson still only lasted one album. However "Another perfect day" was a real gem and too often overlooked in their long catalog. So he was a surprise in how well he worked out in the end product.

***Any replacements that you hated or loved in hard rock/metal bands?

Clash of the album covers

It is....



Anthrax-Among the living

vs.



Motorhead-Iron Fist

**Which cover do your prefer?

Favorite and least favorite Motorhead albums

Believe it or not my favorite Motorhead album does not have Fast Eddie or Filthy Phil playing on it. Despite not being the classic line-up, "Orgasmatron" has been favorite Motorhead since I first heard it back in 1986. I think everything falls into place and it contains everything I love about Motorhead which is thick dirty riffs, pounding pace, great vocals from Lemmy and fitting lyrics.


Least favorite is "March or die". Not awful by other the standards of most bands, but for Motorhead it has too much fluff and too many filler tracks. It felt rushed and weak.

Starting out young

I had a woman who was maybe in her late 50's come into my place of work (public library). She had a list of bands that her 13 year grandson was looking for and it was all metal. Some of the bands were not surprising as they were big names like Ozzy and Maiden. Then she got to Motorhead followed by Manowar, Testament and even Death. Now unfortunately we don't own any titles by those last three, but we do own several by the first three. Still it refreshing to hear of a teenager today with an interest in old metal. The only downside was Dragonforce were on the list too and what's worse is the library system I work for owns more Dragonforce titles than they do Motorhead discs.

Number 12

Moving along is the last one that I will reveal today. It is...



"Fast" Eddie Clarke

Sorry to you two or three Fastway fans out there, but he is on this list strictly for his work with Motorhead. His playing on those early Motorhead albums had a huge impact on metal due to his tone and speed. Often overlooked, but Motorhead and thrash would not have been the same without his contributions.

Okay, that's probably it for a while. I'll have numbers 11-8 out around next Friday or Saturday.

Motorhead-Motorizer

SPV
2008


A few years ago I was writing on a message board and someone mentioned buying the new Motorhead. I asked them what it was like and the answer was "it sounds like Motorhead". Indeed that did tell me a lot and Motorhead are one of those bands where you generally have a strong idea of what Lemmy and the boys are going to do. Doesn't mean that they are necessarily in a rut and if they are then it's a pretty entertaining rut to be stuck in. Anyway the new album is likely exactly what you would expect if you are at all familiar with the band as it's more dirty, grinding rock and roll with lots of grit. The opener "Runaround Man" sets the tone as it's thick as molasses sound roars on and Lemmy's growl comes pouring out as dry throated and likable as ever. We get real head bobbin', rip roarin' tracks like "Rock out" and "Buried alive" that follow a familiar pattern, but it's one that Motorhead helped invent and many other bands follow this blueprint as well. "Back on the chain" was slightly different to my ears as it follows a very choppy style, but the band quickly puts their stamp on it and turn into it a very controlled yet hard driving body shaker. Phil Campbell reaches down deep and pulls out some big almost sludge like riffs for "Heroes" and Lemmy belts it out even louder than normal as the track thunders along. The rest of the tracks fall in at various levels in between and there are not any real surprises nor are there any disappointments. It's just another chapter in the long and incredibly impressive career of a band that helped chizel out and carry on real killer metal . For Motorhead there is no hiding behind effects, complicated concepts or attempts to tie into the latest musical trends but rather it's the same old tried and true, headbangin' material that still gets the blood pumping right away. Only two things in life are certain... death and taxes, but the fact that Motorhead will put out good, pounding metal as long as Lemmy's heart is still beating isn't too far behind those other two things and it's more enjoyable to look forward to as well.