MOTÖRHEAD: Motörizer

Produced by Cameron Webb

Released: August 26

Regardless of whatever else appens in the world of music, Motörhead can always be counted on to stay resolutely Motörhead. Motörizer brings their studio album count up to 20, and if you've heard any of the others you already know pretty much what to expect this time around too. Even the band themselves are suggesting that this is perhaps their most diverse album ever, but like the word "interesting", "diverse" can mean a lot of things.

Motörizer is probably as diverse as anything carrying the Motörhead name could be. It kicks off with the dirty biker metal of "Runaround Man" and follows that up with some filthy, menacing blues in the shape of "Teach You How to Sing the Blues". "When the Eagle Screams" is patented 'Head dirty rock and "Rock Out" is classic speed metal, a dead-ringer for "Aces of Spades". "English Rose" is one of Lemmy's cheeky love songs, "Back on the Chain" is bass-driven mayhem. "Heroes" slows the pace just a tad whereas "The Thousand Names of God" rounds out the collection in a slightly more melodic though no less frenetic vein.

As usual, the band is on fire, a relentless rock and roll machine. Mikkey Dee simply slays behind the kit. He is the epitome of high velocity rock n' roll drumming. Phil Campbell shows his chops as fine as always, cutting loose with a short, sharp lead break or injecting some lethal fills. Then there's the core of the Motörhead sound: Lemmy's unfaltering raspy throat and thundering bass assault, as ageless as rock n roll itself. The production has been stripped back to the raw punkish buzz of yore (say 1978 or so), making Motörizer one of the dirtiest-sounding Motörhead albums in a long time. And that's saying something.

This may not quite match the total return to glory that was Kiss of Death, but it's damn close. There's everyone else, and then there's Motörhead.

1. Runaround Man
2. Teach You How to Sing the Blues
3. When the Eagle Screams
4. Rock Out
5. One Short Life
6. Buried Alive
7. English Rose
8. Back on the Chain
9. Heroes
10. Time is Right
11. The Thousand Names of God

Rating: 85%