Motorhead - Bad Magic review

A lot changes over the course of 40 years...oh except for Motorhead, and on their 40th Anniversary album, Bad Magic, they're trying very hard to be as loud, brash and gritty as ever, with the consequence being a rather old and worn out sounding Lemmy Kilmister.

After four decades of shouting something has to give, and in this case it's Lemmy's voice. It's been well documented how ill he's been and from pictures online it's easy to see too. On Bad Magic there's nothing lacking in the music department - far from it - every song sounds as original as it's possible for a Motorhead track to be, but there's a real lack of oomph in the vocals. It's been said that on the final mix the producer actually had to boost the volume on Lemmy's vocal track because it wasn't audible enough over the bass, drums and guitar, which is obvious when you listen to the album because it's clear how much pressure his voice is under.

Normally the vocals/lyrics are make or break for me however with Motorhead, a band not exactly renowned for about clarity when it comes to vocals, I think I can look over it because of just how good the musicianship is. Phil Williams is spectacular on lead guitar and Mikkey Dee demonstrates his prowess behind the skins, keeping up with and adding to the insane drive that Lemmy offers with his un-bassist-like, chord/rhythm playing technique.

Motorhead, much like AC/DC, have been labelled by many as bands whose songs sound very similar one to the next, and this album follows that with just a few exceptions. The first of these exceptions being The Devil, which uncharacteristically to every other Motorhead song ever recorded, features a 'stop-go' rhythm as I'd call it, in that there is actual silence between notes in the chorus. Another thing to point on this track is that is has a guest guitarist in Queen's Dr. Brian May, and one things for sure, he doesn't mind getting his heavy on! It shouldn't be a surprise when May shows his musical flexibility but it's nice to hear him shred on a neck and not associate the ensuing genius with a previous track we've heard a thousand times before on commercial radio.

The other exceptions will definitely please the more rock than metal fans of Motorhead. Till The End is almost a hard rock ballad, starting slowly and building to a crescendo of classically Motorhead proportions. As well as this there is the album closer, an uncharacteristic cover; The Rolling Stones's 'Sympathy For The Devil'. Having heard Guns N Roses' abysmal attempt to cover one of the Stones' most well known tracks, I was more than pessimistic about yet another hard rock/Metal interpretation. However, I will report that it's not anything like as awful as Axl and co's version and in fact I quite like it. Lemmy's distinctive grunt fits very well with the depressing war/devil lyrics and the trio stay very true to the original structure, just adding traditional Motorhead grit and drive.

Verdict 3.5/5
Well it's typical Motorhead for three quarters of the album so normally I would only give that 2/5 or so. But on this occasion, with the added musical depth of two rockier tracks I'm happy to move that up to 3-3.5/5. I'm still not convinced by Lemmy's vocals, and there comes a point where you have to say no more, but the production team have done just well enough to mask his frailty enough to produce a good heavy rock/Metal album. I do feel the time is coming though when Lemmy will have to say no more and either scout for new vocal talent or end the band as is, although I don't think that's fair on Phil Williams or Mikkey Dee.

It's difficult to say how Bad Magic will be received by hardcore Motorhead fans but, knowing Metal fans, I think it'll still hit the spot.

The Strypes - Little Victories review

After debuting in 2012 with Snapshot, The Strypes have earned their stripes with Little Victories. Great lyrics, soul-shaking riffs and a clear musical evolution make the 2015 release not to be missed!



Little Victories starts where Snapshot left off; with two heavily riffed, Zeppelin-esque, simply written tracks. Get Into It, the single from the album, sums up life as a teenager in the world of social media and does so with a kickass riff that almost makes you not care so much about the song itself and just focus on the chemistry between guitar, bass and drums. I Need To Be Your Only is in much the same vein as Get Into It in that all you can say is it's clearly a Strypes song by the way it's written, the accompanying riff and the driving bass.

The Strypes have definitely shown how they've progressed as musicians, with the introduction of mellower, less aggressive tunes. A Good Night's Sleep And A Cab Fare Home, for example, demonstrates the versatility of Josh McClorey's writing and shows that you don't necessarily need to be smashing the audience's ear drums to please them. You can hear the influences The Strypes have had over the past few years in this one, with an Oasis/Arctic Monkey's indie sound coming through, which I can't decide if it's a bad thing or not.... (I Wanna Be Your) Everyday is so mellow it may act as an attempt at a foray into the psychedelic, with a smooth, shimmering guitar wah over the top of Ross Farrelly's chilled vocals.

I've already dicussed Eighty-Four in a previous blog post from when I saw Evan, Josh, Pete and Ross in a tiny venue in Cambridge in May, before they'd even announced the name of the new album, but needless to say - it's awesome.

McClorey is assisted with lyrics on Queen Of The Half Crown by his friend Dave Bardon and revives that fuzzy Led Zep sound to great effect once again. Finding out 'half crown' is Irish slang for drunk put a funny slant on the song too. Best Man plants this album straight back into the punk genre. A fast paced, short, sharp song that has The Clash written all over it - not literally, mind.

Three Streets And A Village Green is one of two tracks that appear to describe the longings of home after months traveling the world. Lyrically it's a check on the band's humility and their defiance not to forget their routes in the leafy rural Irish village of Cavan. Again the early-noughties influence is there but McClorey adds a huge amount with a 'different' wahed solo.

Another single next; Now She's Gone. A proper, heavy, distorted outburst of shouty teenage angst that also sees McClorey increase his musical diversity with a stint of tinny lap steel guitar audible towards the end.

A song writing debut for bassist Pete O'Hanlon on Cruel Brunette is an interesting one, written in the form of a short story that tells of a bad experience with a girl (obviously). O'Hanlon's song writing reminds me a lot of very early Pink Floyd or more specifically, Syd Barrett, especially at the beginning of the track, that morphs into jangly mod and back to 1967 Pink Floyd.

Status Update is probably the most cleverly sarcastic song you're going to hear from a band with a writer as young as McClorey. The chorus has backing vocals of "shame, shame, shame", as if a rebellious teenager is just ignoring everyone and not caring what anyone says. All I can picture when I hear this track is a disgruntled teen walking out the door of his parents house with two fingers raised. The chorus alone just screams pissed of teenager, "And it never felt so good - Am I acting like I should be? - Doing things I never could".

Finally, Scumbag City is the second song that tells of the band missing home, or more specifically hating where they are staying. In an interview on Wednesday 19 August on RTE Radio 1, O'Hanlon said how much he hates Shoreditch and the hipsters that inhabit it. One line of lyrics - "There's empty cans on river street, Scumbag City Blues" - actually appears to refer to a real street in the Shoreditch area when researched on Google Maps! This maybe a coincidence but somehow I think not.

Verdict
I'll give it 4/5 for now, or if I'm generous 4.5/5. The only song that troubles me is A Good Night's Sleep And A Cab Fare Home purely because of the indie rock sound which needs to stay in the noughties and doesn't belong on a rock n roll album!

Other than that small hiccup, Little Victories is an excellent album and a clear evolution in The Strypes sound without straying too far. It also gives us a good helping of rocking riffs to keep us happy for another few years until part three of the discography comes our way.