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Motörhead > Bomber > Reviews > UltraBoris
Motörhead - Bomber

Ze bombah!! Ze bombah!!! - 80%

UltraBoris, September 17th, 2004

This is probably the first ESSENTIAL Motorhead album. The thing with Motorhead is that sometimes they are a bit too filler and a bit too inconsistent - one gets that when they release two albums of 10 songs each a year... when they are dead on, they are a fierce mix of punk, metal, and rock 'n roll, with all three aspects of the band coming on strong, with each song combining all three in some proportion or another.

THIS is an album that is fierce and dead FUCKING on. Combine basher anthems like "Lawman" and "Sweet Revenge", which are monstrosities of Sabbath meets old-school riff rock like Hendrix or the Kinks. Then other songs are pure Motorhead riffage, that NO other band sounds like - the MC5 wish they were this heavy, Judas Priest wish they were this pissed off, the Sex Pistols wish they were this coherent... All the Aces, Talking Head... the simple speed stuff, half guitar, half bass, all power all the time.

This is their second LP of 1979 (third, if you count the initial release of the 1975 recording, On Parole) - and a far more violent release than the previous offering, OVAHKILL. What the title track of that album brought into full force, THIS album continues on. The guitar and bass tones are much more similar here than there to The Masterwörk, No Sleep 'til Hammersmith of course.

With the opener, "Dead Men Tell No Tales", and the album kicks on a high note, and never stops. The epic madcap soloing of "Sharpshooter", combined with that absurdly heavy bass backing - shades of Ace of Spades and Overkill - and the simple Priest-ish riffs... I hear "Delivering the Goods" and even "Island of Domination" in the gallop. The more melodic, punk work "Poison", with the gang choruses a la the Ramones... "Step Down" with Fast Eddie taking on the vocals, and the whole thing comes out like a late 60s burner a la a much more violent The Doors...

these guys were ALL. These guys weren't afraid to wear all their influences on their sleeves, and come up with a sound that is unmistakeably their own nonetheless... the loud destructive bass, the shrieking guitars, the LOUDEST BAND IN THE WORLD of course... the epic (yes, even in under five minutes, this song is a complete masterwork) "Stone Dead Forever" with its glorious intro licks leading into the awesome speed metal riffage (and the random feedback at 2:48 - something tells me they left it in) and the solo that's all Ten Years After, Times One Hundred... and of course the final track.

THE TITLE TRACK!! THE TITLE TRACK!! THE BOMBER!! THE BOMBER!!

Well worth it. Well fucken worth it. First there is Sabbath. Then there is Priest. Then there is Motorhead. With these three bands, and NOTHING else, you can take over the world.

Yes, pretty sad that in the two years of this site, there's been two reviews for this LP.

(Oh yeah, my CD comes with a few live bonus tracks... not sure when they were recorded, but they sound completely fucking competent, though not QUITE as vicious as No Sleep.)