Motorhead : " Bad Magic'

I know Motorhead is the sacred cow of metal. People blindly accept Lemmy as god. He does get credit for being in Hawkwind. He is an easy guy to like, but does that make him really a metal icon musically? Is Motorhead even metal? And the million dollar question is has Motorhead put out anything worthwhile in the past 20 years? Why does that matter ? Well for someone to truly be a great artist everything they touch shows it. But Lemmy is old enough to be my grand dad you say, you have to cut him some slack...why when David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Robert Fripp, David Gilmore and a host of others who are older or his peers still do so should Lemmy or he is more myth than legend Can they still make good music? Well the first song is pretty dialed in color by numbers punching the clock. The second song improves as His bass tone is dialed in on "Thunder & Lightning".


I am not expecting Lemmy to be able to sing , but I am expecting more than a second rate "Cat Scratch Fever" on "Fire Storm Hotel". Former King Diamond drummer Mikkey Dee, shows he still has it on the intro to "Shoot Out Your Lights" at this point he has been in the band almost as long as Philthy and truth be told Lemmy is the only original member though the guitarist joined in the mid eighties. The would be a really heavy Motley Crue song. The songs are like punk, three minutes in and out. "The Devil" sounds like bad solo Ozzy, but it's better than the previous song. It's funny that the same people who make fun of cock rock are the same ones who will champion Motorhead, but "Electricity" sounds not different from Faster Pussycat to me except for the fact its' Lemmy rather than Taime Downe on the mic.  I would really like this album to just be half as good as "Orgasmatron" is that too much to ask?

"Evil Eye" has more of his rumbling bass, which along with the drumming are the best parts of this album. It's actually a pretty decent song. This album flys by... some of this is because the songs are pretty brisk . By the time we are at "Teach Them How to Bleed" I notice that Lemmy is not trying in the lyrical department and this sounds like as song I have already heard them play and not just on this album. The do cheese the right way when they pull out the power ballad " Till the End" . Lemmy comes close to singing and guitar solos wail out of every corner, thats how you rock. Feeling a little self conscious after that one they come back doing what they do with "Tell Me Who To Kill" . His bass playing is great on this one and I'm always drawn to it, but the song itself is nothing special, just rehashed rock chords.

"Choking on Your Screams" gets a little closer to classic Motorhead. The hit you with more groove. The lyrics improve, they are a "Orgasmatron' like narrative. The more straight up rock of "When the Sky Comes Looking For You" is a mixed bag. At it's core it's nothing new. They close the album with a cover of "Sympathy for the Devil" . Not sure if this is needed as they play it pretty straight and don't metal it out like these supposed metal gods should . It's not terrible and the classic Motorhead moments balance out the more  color by numbers clock punching, but it's a close margin. I'll give it a 6.5 and doubt I'll need to listen to it again.