Motörhead—Hammered (2002)

Details

All tracks written by Kilmister/Campbell/Dee, except ‘Serial killer’ by Kilmister.

Produced by Thom Panunzio and Motörhead, except ‘Serial killer’, produced by Thom Panuzio, Chuck Reed and Lemmy. Mixed by Thom Panunzio, except ‘Serial killer’ mixed by Chuck Reed. Engineered by Thom Panunzio, Chuck Reed and Bob Koszela, assisted by Jim Danis and Jeff Rothschild. Recorded at Henson Studios and Chuck’s house. Mixed at Interscope Studios and Chuck’s house. Mastered at Capitol Mastering by Bob Vosgien.

Band

Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister—Bass and vocals
Philip Campbell—Guitars and backing vocals
Mikkey Dee—Drums

Tracks

Walk a crooked mile
Down the line
Brave new world
Voices from the war
Mine all mine
Shut your mouth
Dr Love
No remorse
Red raw
Serial killer
Shoot you in the back (recorded live at Wacken Open Air 2001) — Bonus track
R.A.M.O.N.E.S. (recorded live at Wacken Open Air 2001) — Bonus track
The Game (written by Jim Johnston) — Bonus track

Review

This is another one of the few CDs that I was gifted that I already owned. I gave away the duplicate to my friend Mike at work. I bumped into him on my walk to the office this morning. “Great album,” he said. And it is.

I reckon that Motörhead albums are like pizza: even a bad one is pretty darned great! I watched an interview with Lemmy the other night who said that he was really disappointed with Iron Fist (1982), which was produced by “Fast” Eddie Clarke. But it’s still a pretty decent album, by any standards. This album, Hammered, is a tremendous album.

The album opens with “Walk a crooked mile” which I remember playing on repeat after I first bought the album. It’s a great Motörhead riff, but I especially like Campbell’s solo about three minutes into the song.

And so the onslaught begins. Or perhaps that should be Önslaught.

There’s a line from the song “Brotherhood of Man” from the 2010 album The Wörld Is Yours, that always sticks out for me whenever I listen to it, that goes “Now your time has come a storm of iron in the sky”. That’s what this album is like: a storm of iron in the sky.

“Down the line” and “Brave new world” bound along with a bluesy energy. “Voices from the war” pounds the opening riff like a jack-hammer! It’s probably my favourite track on the album.

“Mine all mine” has a classic Motörhead feel, something from the early days, as does “Shut your mouth”. “Kill the world”, “Dr Love” pick up the bluesy feel again, while “No Remorse” takes a darker and moodier path, and “Red Raw” is almost thrash.

The album closes with a spoken poem by Lemmy, “Serial killer”, which descends into a cacophony of screaming guitars and pounding drums.

I have the limited edition of this album which came with a second disc of bonus tracks. I’ve probably said elsewhere that I’m generally not a fan of bonus tracks that are nothing more than live tracks. Well, we have two live tracks here but for me the gem of the bonus tracks is “The game” written by World Wrestling Entertainment music composer Jim Johnston as the entrance theme for wrestler Triple H. It’s a great song, very Motörhead!

Conclusion

This is a solid Motörhead album, and I’m rather ashamed to say was actually the first album of theirs that I bought on CD. I had Bomber (1979), Ace of Spades (1980) and the excellent 1916 (1991) on cassette.

Time to get my Motörhead back catalogue in order, me thinks. After all, they are Motörhead, and they play rock ‘n’ roll!

Review score: 95%