INFERNO - 2004 / MOTÖRHEAD

Sexta crítica para METAL HAMMER ESPAÑA. MOTÖRHEAD y uno de los discos más brillantes de su discografía reciente: INFERNO.

Enlace:

INFERNO - 2004 / MOTÖRHEAD - METAL HAMMER ESPAÑA

Gracias! 

ENGLISH

My sixth review for METAL HAMMER ESPAÑA. MOTÖRHEAD and one of the most brilliant records from their later years: INFERNO.

Link:

INFERNO - 2004 / MOTÖRHEAD - METAL HAMMER ESPAÑA

LABEL: STEAMHAMMER

RELEASE DATE: 22th of June, 2004

MEMBERS:

LEMMY KILMISTER: Vocals, bass guitar

PHILIP CAMPBELL: Guitar

MIKKEY DEE: Drums

TRACKS:

TERMINAL SHOW

KILLERS

IN THE NAME OF TRAGEDY

SUICIDE

LIFE'S A BITCH

DOWN ON ME

IN THE BLACK

FIGHT

IN THE YEAR OF THE WOLF

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

SMILING LIKE A KILLER

WHOREHOUSE BLUES

VIDEOS:

TERMINAL SHOW

IN THE NAME OF TRAGEDY

DOWN ON ME

IN THE BLACK

MOTÖRHEAD are an institution. Little else can be said. LEMMY himself is also an institution in his own right, and someone whose name goes hand in hand with words like charisma, talent and hard work, besides being someone incapable of leaving anyone indifferent. Some of those traits came with birth, or pretty much, but the almost unanimous recognition that goes after it does not happen overnight. Only through a lengthy career and thanks to a huge and authentic discography which leaves little or no room for complaint.

Funnily enough, Motörhead's forty long years of musical career (which have seen the release of more than twenty studio records and an endless list of compilations and live albums) have not translated into a neverending parade of musicians (leaving Lemmy aside) joining and leaving the band's ranks. All in all I'd say they are, in fact, just a few, and there are two different and very stable lineups which stand out above the rest (in which pretty much some other musician gets involved with some of those already present in these two). The first one is the original lineup, with Lemmy as the singer and bass player, EDDIE CLARKE on guitar and PHILIP TAYLOR behind the drumkit. All of them, sadly missed since 2018.

And the second one is the other power trio which became firmly established as such in 1996 (with the release of OVERNIGHT SENSATION), and that includes Lemmy, PHILIP CAMPBELL on guitar and MIKKEY DEE on drums. The last two had already been in the band for years, together with, as I've already said, some other musicians (mostly the also deceased guitarist MICHAEL BURSTON, aka WÜRZEL) during those times in which Motörhead were a foursome.

Dee, Kilmister and Campbell, from
left to right

INFERNO, released in 2004, became the fifth album that the aforementioned second and modern lineup released (and if I'm correct, the eighteenth overall) and most likely, my favourite among all of them. It's also one of the best in all Motörhead's canon, despite the fierce competition. It featured another menacing front cover drawn by the usual JOE PETAGNO, and was produced by CAMERON WEBB, someone who was very involved with the band during its later years, but who, strangely enough, had had almost no relationship with heavy metal at all before working with Motörhead.

 

Before elaborating further on the contents of the album itself, the bond between Lemmy and the music  business thanks to which he became worldwide known, needs to be discussed. Because, even if he always spoke of his band as a rock & roll one (We are Motörhead… and we play rock & roll!), and despite being someone not prone either to tags or to the fact that Motörhead could be considered heavy metal (he admitted in the past that they felt closer to punk music and bands like THE DAMNED than to JUDAS PRIEST, and he even had to remember Webb himself, when they first met and the latter told him that he was eager to make a really heavy record with Motörhead, that the just played rock & roll), truth is Motörhead were (are) a heavy metal band with everything something like that entails.

Sure, there are moments within its discography when this band has made use of some instruments not easy to associate with this genre, something that, on the other hand, has happened a lot, before and since, with many other metal artists. And of course there are songs (some of them quite famous, like GOING TO BRAZIL, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME or ANGEL CITY) whose pattern is the usual one of a rock & roll song, no matter how loud and distorted thay are played. But things like those cannot omit the fact that Motörhead have devoted themselves to heavy metal. They even had time to go deeper into more extreme genres, embarrassing some bands here and there who are usually pigeonholed in them.

The man. The icon. The Legend

Few bands were capable of being on the same level as Motörhead when it came to attitude and dedication, and not for nothing they are almost unanimously revered by the heavy metal community, as they are by a myriad of extreme metal bands who count Motörhead among their influences. Germany's SODOM, with the charismatic TOM ANGELRIPPER at the helm, just to name an obvious one. And all this without dealing with Motörhead's usual way of life and their looks. Studs and leather? Those were like aspirins for Lemmy.

These remarks are relevant because Inferno is one of their most obvious albums in this regard, and is home to some of those songs which just run over the listener and, by the way, any shadow of taking Lemmy and his particular vision of the music style played by Motörhead, seriously. Starting with opener TERMINAL SHOW and the relentless hitting of Sweden's Mikkey Dee, a drummer who is almost second to none in Europe and who was always introduced by Lemmy as the best drummer in the world. What I like the most about this song are the verses, where the band gets really heavy, but I guess the most remarkable thing is that STEVE VAI, of all people, plays a guitar solo here. This feels quite picturesque, because the collaboration between both parts seems unlikey to begin with.

The best drummer in the world,
according to Lemmy

KILLERS goes next and is a song more in Motörhead's usual vein and not as fast as the previous one, but with a refrain which is pure gold and Lemmy's bass standing out more than the average bass guitar, as if it was a rhythm guitar. Loud and heavy, just like its owner boasted about.

Dee's double kicks leave again their mark in the beginning of IN THE NAME OF TRAGEDY, another scorcher and perhaps the most famous song on the whole record, in which the band gives its very best once again during the verses, thanks mostly to a guitar player as overlooked as Campbell. His solo is quite good and I love the gang backing vocals before the refrain. Very thuggish. Very Motörhead.

This album is not very long and the first three songs have gone by in no time, so this is the time for the longest song (but not very long though), SUICIDE, a mid-paced tune in which Lemmy's bass joins the main riff in a very similar way as it did in Killers. Little to do with that song anyway, apart from that, because its somehow slow pace makes it look longer than it actually is and it even brings it closer to hard rock, although more because of its structure than the sound itself. And there's also the very lively refrain, contrasting the song's title, which is repeated twice, both times followed by very good solos by Campbell.

 

The beginning of LIFE'S A BITCH makes the listener think that they are about to experience some kind of vintage rock & roll or something of the like. That typical sound that comes to mind when you think of rock & roll music. But once again Motórhead, despite the song keeping a structure which is pretty much linked to that kind of music, knock their fans down igniting the song until it gets red hot after a few seconds. Those vibes of the beginning get subsequent spots here and there and the whole thing is very enjoyable.

Phil Campbell on stage

After Life's A Bitch, come three of the heaviest songs on the whole record (together with In The Name Of Tragedy and Terminal Show). The first one is DOWN ON ME, a quite steady belter which only changes a little bit when the guitar enjoys even more prominence and the song gets more menacing and darker. Steve Vai plays gets another spotlight playing the solo.

 

IN THE BLACK, one of my favourites, follows suit, and I always link this song to In The Name Of Tragedy. Dee steals the sow one more time and he is unstoppable during the great chorus. Again, because if there is something on this record to remark, besides the obvious quality and heaviness, is Motörhead's knack to find remarkable and even catchy moments. Campbell uses the wha-wha pedal (or so I think) again during the solo and there is a burst of no holds barred double bass drumming at the very end.

A later picture of the three musketeers

 

FIGHT shows Motörhead again at their most extreme and it could very well be the album's heaviest song. Lemmy himself asks his bass to be put up at the beginning of the song. Frantic and brutal, very much as the lyrics and as the band itself.

 

The guys slow things a little bit down with IN THE YEAR OF THE WOLF, a song which my mind establishes another involuntary bond with, this time with Suicide. Because the pace and both songs structure are very much alike, and so is the bridge halfway into the song. And mostly because there is another lively and even happy (for lack of a better word) refrain that is also catchy as hell. I like the lyrics too, although I would not dare saying what they are about.

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM shows Motörhead trying something different, no matter how difficult is for the word experimentation to match the name of the band. It is your more or less average Motörhead song (and a very interesting one), but it features an almost isolated, and quite removed from the band's usual hostility, solo section by Campbell in which the axeman is only kept company by a minimalist string accompaniment, courtesy of some CURTIS MATHEWSON.

This amazing live album, released in 2007, featured
the band's 30th anniversary show (16-06-2005), which
took place while they toured in support of Inferno

SMILING LIKE A KILLER is also quite good, a Killers second part of sorts, although this is that one song which goes unnoticed the most, in my opinion, besides being the shortest. Not much else about it.

Quite the opposite in the case of closing number (with funny title to boot) WHOREHOUSE BLUES, an acoustic blues in which all three musicians (yes, Dee included) play acoustic guitar and Lemmy also plays the harmonica. The singer does a simplistic recap of the band's career saying that nothing was expected from them and that, even if they are not very good looking, they have been able of traveling the world thanks to the music and they are ok with it.

And that's all folks. Leaving MARCH ÖR DIE (1992) aside, the band had been playing a heavier (and brilliant) brand of metal since the release of 1916 (1991), and fortunately they kept things like that until Motörhead had to stop existing (due to Lemmy's passing), with albums like KISS OF DEATH (2006) or THE WÖRLD IS YOURS (2010). But Inferno may remain as one of the most standing out (on every front) examples of what this band became ever since the early nineties and mostly during the XXI century. The same attitude, some little innovations here and there and a heavier take on the band's usual leanings.

 

Immortal.

Bye!