Motorhead’s excellent, final, and much-needed new album, Bad Magic, opens with Lemmy Kilmister yelling “Victory or die!” It’s tempting to feel weird or sad upon hearing this, knowing Lemmy will never grace us with his gravely growl again, but after this the album proceeds to take off and blast you back into your chair. I imagine it isn’t much different than being the passenger in a nitro-burning funny car tearing off the line. You don’t have time to be morose.
“Thunder & Lightning” needs to be on the soundtrack of the next Mad Max movie because it sounds like something that would blare from the cassette deck of a War Boy’s car. Phil Campbell’s guitar seamlessly blends metal shredding with punk rock chugging. “Fire Storm Hotel” sounds like it could’ve been recorded twenty years ago, as the band has lost nothing in all this time. Kilmister’s bass groove on it is particularly good.
“Shoot Out All of Your Lights” reminds you that Mikkey Dee is one of the best drummers alive. I’m sure Dave Grohl considered breaking his drumsticks upon hearing it because Master Mikkey schools every rock drummer alive on this track.
Want some doom in your metal? Don’t worry, because Motorhead brings you “The Devil,” and I have to wonder if Campbell got the riff from the gentleman named in it because it is so damn good. “Electricity” and “Evil Eye” are two rockers under three minutes long and remind us of Motorhead’s craftsmanship. You come in, you do the job well, and you get out.
“Teach Them How to Bleed” could be Motorhead’s battle cry to all the pretenders trying to take the metal crown from them. Campbell’s guitar work on it sounds like he had a blast laying down the riffs and they are some of the most sizzling on the whole record. It’s so scalding that the slow build of the next track, “Till the End,” is a bit jarring. Kilmister sings on this rock ballad that he’s the “last one you can trust until the end.” I believe him. Did he or Motorhead ever let us down? In fact, the next track is called “Tell Me Who to Kill,” so Motorhead again went above and beyond the call of duty for us. Kilmister’s bass on this is both powerful and menacing, just as you want it to be.
“Choking on Your Screams” is the creepiest track on the record. Kilmister sounds like he’s singing from a dark pit, Campbell plays like he’s heralding the arrival of an elder god, and Dee’s beats are like machine gun fire from the shoulders of a giant robot smashing London. “We are your masters. We feel no remorse. You have no chance against us,” Kilmister sings. Again, are you listening metal-wannabe bands?
The band ventures a bit into arena rock with “When the Sky Comes Looking for You,” but I’m not sure an arena could hold this track as it soars high on Campbell’s guitar and then pounds you with some of Dee’s hardest drumming and Kilmister’s most punishing bass.
If Motorhead was to cover the Rolling Stones, which song do you think they’d pick? That’s right, “Sympathy for the Devil.” It is, as you might expect, outstanding. Dee’s primal drumming kicks Campbell’s hot-as-Cerberus’-breath guitar into high gear and Kilmister’s vocals sound like they were recorded during a strange ritual held in a mausoleum. It’s the best cover song I’ve heard in years.
This is also the best metal album I’ve heard in years. Bad Magic deserves to be ranked high among Motorhead’s other records and is a great send-off for Lemmy. All of us should dream of creating something this powerful at age 70.
