It may just be me in my internet bubble and with my unique tastes, but there seems to be a decline in the love for classic rock music in some parts of the younger generation. I’m sure that many reading this have had a Generation Z individual like myself say “I’m not really into the Beatles” or use the term “boomer rock”. The idea is that there is a generational divide in music circles at this point. It is a spectrum but there are clear instances of extremes and much of the discourse is a mess in my eyes. For a while, I believed I was a bit jaded by the idea of exploring classic hard rock, with some exceptions like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.
This was until I listened to Motörhead. I listened to Overkill in an attempt to find some King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard type riff-heavy, proggy speed metal. I ended up enjoying the energetic riffs and raw vocals, but was not as much a fan of the more lo-fi mixing. A friend told me that the band’s material from 1990 and later is more cleanly produced, and this intrigued me. With that I decided to check out their 1993 album Bastards in hopes that it would scratch my itches and perhaps even surprise me on the hard rock front. As a Generation Z hard rock skeptic I can say with confidence that Bastards scratches that itch with hellishly energetic riffs, even more powerful vocals than before and an overall sense of momentum throughout most of the album that only slows down for equally impressive ideas.
On Your Feet Or On Your Knees sets the stage for this album perfectly, crashing in with a snappy, crazy, electric and overall killer riff. It actually does not bother me much that it is a tad derivative of other hard rock bands like Van Halen and Black Sabbath given how full of life it is. The energy of the riffs are matched by the drumming and vocals too. The whole song hits you with an onslaught of energetic playing and powerfully strained, but surprisingly clean screams. The song feels like you are in a desert action scene a la Mad Max or Borderands. I was absolutely blown away by this opener. It is the sort of track that can be enjoyed with your brain on or off (granted the latter may be preferable). The album definitely starts off strong.
Thankfully the band are able to keep things fresh moving forward. For example the third track, Death Or Glory, has a quick, heavy, almost punky riff to it, like something out of a Tony Hawk game. The vocals are mildly strained here as well but it weirdly works, especially since this is the loudest the vocals have been mixed on the album thus far. The hook is actually somewhat catchy, and I found myself gleefully shouting “Death or glory, death or glory!” to myself by the end. That being said the writing on this song and a couple of other points on the album is genuinely really solid. Whether the lyricism here represents more ancient wars, with the narrator being “first class with the swords”, or more modern ones where the narrator “marched with Hitler down the bloody road to war”. The song is simple but effective at painting wars throughout history. Towards the end, the song even has a multi-phased bridge with tribal, yet rhythmic chanting halfway through followed by a more psychedelic section driven by a worbly synth. This starts a trend of multi-phased bridges on the album that helps it in being so enjoyable. The bridge is handily ended by a hefty drum lead that leads into a killer solo before the final chorus. Between the intense riffs, the amazing bridge work, and simple but effective writing, Death or Glory truly represents much of what the album does right.
The best part is, there are other major highlights in the first half such as I Am The Sword and Born To Raise Hell. The former having some of the most unclean vocals on the album, but the intense growls never get grating. Plus the trademark strained but powerful singing is still there at points on the song, mainly in the chorus, while the latter track is a classic rocker with the distorted AC/DC type guitars that were shockingly fun to listen to. The drum that bangs at the end of the post chorus was almost startling with how sudden it was but it got my heart pumping with hype, so the momentum was able to continue.
Like many classic hard rock and heavy metal albums, there are a couple of more acoustic cuts on here as well, and both work in my eyes. The first of which is the haunting Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me. This track is dark, with it being a ballad about sexual abuse . It follows a little girl, her single father, and the unfortunate circumstances that ensue. I almost do not want to spoil some of the lines here due to their impact, so I would implore readers who feel comfortable doing so to check out the song. With that being said, after line after line of haunting acoustic buildup, the track explodes in the chorus. The hardest part of the song for me was when Lemmy defeatedly wails, “Tell me why? The worst crime in the world”. It is obvious he understands the severity of what he is writing about, the passion is clear. The band even emphasizes the line with a guitar solo, which ends with some slower haunting minor chords that lead into the final verse. Lightning strikes twice with the acoustic tracks with Lost In The Ozone. This one is a tale about a man lost at sea. After telling his tale of being trapped on a “hungry, empty sea” over a somber chord progression and slightly heavy drum track that picks up, quicker than it did on Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me, the man cries that he’s “alone and dying and a thousand miles from home” as heavy instrumentation piles on like thunder and lightning. It’s another powerful track, albeit in a different way. It is not often that ballads hit this consistently for me on an album like this, but Motörhead managed to make them enjoyable.
The last two tracks before the closer are both hard rockers that borrow from various places but make it work. I would argue I’m Your Man sonically sounds like Van Halen mixed with 2000s radio rock a la Breaking Benjamin or Three Days Grace. This should not work as well at it does but Lemmy’s satisfying vocal delivery mixed with the interesting elements like the funky solo towards the end make it work. We Bring The Shake is a bit heavier, almost resembling an early Sabbath track. The vocals are also noticeably lighter than on the other more energetic cuts, but they’re so harmonic that they work very well for me. The chorus has the trademark strain but it still is fun, and like on Death or Glory l was singing along by the end.
The opening riff on the closer, Devils, is hellish. It is epic, like the gates of Hell are opening and the fire is roaring. Even with this and the soaring, anthemic vocals throughout the track, the subject matter is more about inner demons. The speaker makes it obvious by crying on the chorus that they have “devils in my head tonight” and that “all is wrong if it’s not right”. It is not the most climactic closer considering there’s only a brief (albeit very cool) solo towards the end and the finale is a fade out, but it still mostly works. I feel like it would have been best for the album to end with more of a bang but I still left it happy, eager to relisten.
Bastards is an album I did not expect to enjoy quite like I did. It may end with a bit of a whimper and some of it is a tad derivative, but even with that Motörhead still struck gold with this album. Like many of the influences it borrows from, there are heavier cuts, there are slower cuts but the majority of them were impressive overall. With the unique strained vocals, generally quality writing, and an engaging level of variety in approach, Motörhead have made hard rock and heavy metal their own, and I’m all here for it, despite any prior skepticism.
9/10
