Published on Apr 12, 2002
I’m starting to get worried about Lemmy Kilmister and
Motorhead.
After a streak of albums which seemed to suggest that Kilmister
and crew could do absolutely no wrong, some chinks in the armor
started to appear with
Snake Bite Love. Their last studio effort, 2000’s
We Are Motorhead, continued that trend, though it seemed to
be a little more solid of an effort throughout.
Now Motorhead offers us
Hammered, a disc which almost sounds sluggish at times, and
doesn’t really show the group using its three key pieces –
bassist/vocalist Kilmister, guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer
Mikkey Dee – to their full potential.
In some ways, I’ll admit I’m a hypocrite here. As much as I
loved the more conventional approach that Motorhead worked into
their sound on 1996’s
Overnight Sensation, I didn’t think it as worked as well
since, and it almost sounds like Motorhead isn’t totally
comfortable in this setting anymore. “Walk A Crooked Mile,” the
disc’s opening track, is all the proof one needs of this – though
Motorhead offers up some more painful exhibits on “Down The Line,”
“Mine All Mine” and “Voices From The War”. Even “Brave New World,”
Kilmister’s scathing look at religion and society in the early 21st
Century, doesn’t measure up as well as one would hope. (The
inclusion of Guns N’ Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed on “Mine All
Mine” dares to suggest that Motorhead has regressed a bit back to
the days of
March Or Die, easily their weakest album overall.)
This isn’t to say that
Hammered is completely without merit. “Shut Your Mouth,” the
lead single from the disc, is admittedly a track that has to grow
on you, but reminds me a lot of “Sacrifice” in some ways (albeit
slowed down significantly, and without the time changes that only
Motorhead could handle), but proves to be an enjoyable track. Once
Motorhead gets down to business, the skies look much brighter, and
songs like “Red Raw,” “No Remorse” and “Kill The World” all show
that even after 27 years, Kilmister can still kick anyone’s ass.
The spoken-word piece “Serial Killer” would have been the ultimate
way for this disc to end.
This is where the final two mistakes are made. First is the
inclusion of “The Game,” a song Kilmister wrote for pro wrestler
Triple H – Jesus Christ, Motorhead writing for the WWF has got to
be one of the signs of the impending Apocalypse. Sorry, guys – I
love ya dearly, but this song really sounds like a cast-off. The
other mistake is a tepid live version of “Overnight Sensation” –
and since I’m working from MP3 files (I’m guessing my publicist
friends lost my address), I can’t say for sure where this was
recorded, but it sounds like it was something done for television.
“Overnight Sensation” is a great song; this just isn’t as solid a
performance as I would have liked. (Besides, it wasn’t that long
ago that Motorheadbangers were given
Everything Louder Than Everyone Else.)
I absolutely hate writing anything negative about a band like
Motorhead, especially when they’re a group I’ve followed for over
15 years. (I know – to some of the older fans, I’m still a rookie.)
But
Hammered is not the strongest release that Motorhead has
graced its fanbase with, and dares to suggest that the boys are
getting a little tired. Here’s hoping they come back next time with
an album that knocks my nose into my brain to prove me wrong.