Motörhead - Bastards (1993)^{Release ID: 383}

Earlier this year I conducted an exercise whereby I made a dedicated attempt to identify the first five metal releases that converted me to the ways of darkness & the results (surprisingly) seemed to indicate that London legends Motorhead may well have been band #1 for me through their 1984 “No Remorse” compilation. Needless to say then that we’ve had as long a relationship as I can boast in metal terms. Interestingly though, I’d never heard any of Motorhead’s studio albums past 1987’s eighth full-length “Rock ‘n’ Roll” until this week when I investigated this month’s The Guardians feature release in 1993’s “Bastards” which is their eleventh full-length. Motorhead have never been a band that’s gonna make too many of my best-of lists but they are one that I hold an enormous amount of respect for & generally enjoy too with only their early self-titled & “On Parole” records not offering me some level of appeal along with 1980’s throw-away “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” E.P. & the disappointing 1983 live album “What’s Words Worth?”. Everything else is at least worthy a few listens so, when a well-educated mate of mine recently mentioned that “Bastards” might be the release to finally convince me of Motorhead’s metal credentials, my ears pricked up & I made a conscious note to investigate it at some stage.

Upon first listen it became immediately obvious that “Bastards” is a very different sounding record to the other Motorhead albums I’ve partaken in over the years. The production job is much cleaner & more metallic with Phil Campbell & Wurzel’s guitar tones being thick & heavy & Mikkey Dee’s drum kit sounding sharp & precise. I have to admit that this caught me off guard a little at first because Lemmy’s bass guitar seems like much less of a protagonist in this environment & his vocals don’t seem as comfortable without the dirty grit that Motorhead made their calling card over the years. Repeat listens saw me overcoming this obstacle though & predominantly off the back of some quality hooks & song-writing.

My mate was 100% correct on “Bastards”. It’s by far the most metal release I’ve heard from Motorhead & a dual tagging is more than justified here. The album kicks off with the two most obviously metal tracks too with opener “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees” & speed metal stomper “Burner” both tearing shreds off the unsuspecting listener. The rest of the tracklisting sees Lemmy & co. consistently playing in that grey area between heavy metal & hard rock which often makes it hard to make a call one way or the other. That’s not to say that "Bastards" is a drastic stylistic departure for Motorhead though as you can still identify their bluesy roots easily enough during many songs & I never feel like I’m listening to anyone else.

“Bastards” is an extremely consistent album in many ways. The four-piece band sound like a well-oiled machine & it’s hard to imagine that they were capable of creating anything that was noticeably subpar at this stage in their evolution. The record is at its peak during the three-track run that contains “Burner” (my personal favourite), “Death or Glory” & “I Am The Sword” but “On Your Feet or On Your Knees”, “Bad Woman”, “Liar” & closer “Devils” are really solid too. In saying that though, I’ve always struggled to see Motorhead challenging for my higher scores & nothing has changed in that regard. I just don’t think they appeal to me enough from a purely stylistic point of view & that limitation sees me unable to claim any of the twelve songs as genuine classics, despite all of them offering me a level of enjoyment.

Nonetheless, “Bastards” has really surprised me this week. I wasn’t expecting it to challenge some of Motorhead’s more famous releases for top honours but that would seem to be the case here with only “Overkill” & “Ace of Spades” sitting above it on my Motorhead pecking order now. Don’t be afraid kiddies. This is a high-quality metal release in its own right & is one that’s deserving of essential status in the context of Motorhead’s illustrious career too.

For fans of Venom, Tank & Girlschool.