The
album opens with “Deaf Forever”. The song, like many a Motorhead tune
is about blood and stone. The tale seems to concern the battles of the
Vikings, and is of course quite violent and gory. The song is fairly
standard for the band, but battle samples distract the listener somewhat
and don’t really add much to the song in my opinion. Not bad, but not
really a classic. The next track is a true pleasure. “Nothing Up My
Sleeve” is classic Motorhead, and the minute the insanely overdriven
bass kicks in you know you are in for a dose of musical adrenaline. The
song is basically about distrustful and slippery woman, of whom Lemmy
has surely met many during his adventures. The song has a very familiar
beat, basically more of the same thrashy rock that Motorhead had been
perfecting for years at this point. New drummer Pete Gill does not quite
hit the sticks as hard as regular drummer Phil Taylor but does a more
than adequate job here. An underrated Motorhead classic. “Ain’t My
Crime” is basically Lemmy telling a cheating and lying woman off yet
again. It is here we see Lemmy having little regard or concern for this
woman, basically expressing his lack of interest or concern in the
failed relationship. Stone Cold forever indeed. Late guitarist Wurzel
was added to the band’s lineup just before the recording of this album,
but I believe that Motorhead has and will always work better as a trio.
Wurzel’s solos often fail to impress, and he did not really add much to
the band’s sound in my opinion. The solo for this song feels quite limp,
lacking raw energy and overdrive. “Claw” is Motorhead taking the piss a
little. The song is about the power of a man’s ….well… you know what. In the song, Lemmy is able to lure other men’s women into bed with him to do the ”horizontal dance”. No
messing around, plain and simple Lemmy is purest rock star on Earth and
when he says he will steal your girlfriend, he means it. The
double-bass drum work is quite good, and meets the Motorhead standard
set by Phil Taylor. The end of the song is slightly goofy, with Lemmy
messing around screaming about his “Claw”. Despite the end, the song is
very good. I would like to have heard a longer solo however, and some sampled “block” sounds are totally unnecessary.
“Mean Machine” is Motorhead at hyper speed. The
song is blistering fast, perhaps a little bit too much. I could not
really make heads or tails of the lyrics, but the song appears to either
be about a lost woman or a bomber and its pilot blowing up things. In
any case, the song is simply too fast for my taste. The song feels
rushed through and almost produces a headache. Drumming is intense and
tight, but the guitars sound somewhat tame and processed compared the
edgy and raw Punk-like guitars of earlier albums. Skip this one. “Built
For Speed” brings to mind the classic sound of the band and slows down
the beat to a nice pace. The song is basically Lemmy’s mission
statement, proclaiming a long life and a long time spent partying,
drinking, and bedding a “million” girls. The song is one of the band’s
most “Metal” songs and is fairly crunchy and heavy. The song is quite
enjoyable, despite the very simple guitar solos. “Ridin’ With The
Driver” appears to be about the power of one of Lemmy’s loves; trains.
The song again has quite a Metal feel to it, and the beat sounds like
the clacking of train tracks. The verses are quite interesting, and chug
along like a locomotive billowing black smoke out into the countryside.
However, the chorus is quite an odd stylistic move for the band and
does not really work musically for me. The listener begins to notice a
difference between the two guitars and their interplay, one guitar is
often distorted and the other is quite clean and often uses common 1980s
guitar effects like reverbs and compressors. The result is a strange
contrast between the two guitars, as in the chorus of this song. This is
again why I believe that Motorhead works better as a one- guitar band.
“Doctor Rock” is one of the band’s most famous songs. I
have never been very fond of the song, and the song sounds like a cheap
Kiss knock-off. The lyrics consist of Lemmy rhyming words such as “ill”
and “pill” with each other, and they are dunderheaded even for him. The
song is repetitive, and the stupid lyrics are repeated over and over.
The song really lacks any bells and whistles, and the lack of a
definable solo disappoints the listener. Not a highlight of this album.
The album closes with “Orgasmatron”. The song is a Motorhead classic,
and for many one of their most progressive songs. The song is basically
about a post-apocalyptic situation where the world is suffering at the
hands of an evil demi-god. Lemmy adopts the voice of Orgasmatron, and
gives a deep growl that he uses from time to time. The song is
interesting, and fairly long for the band.
Orgasmatron
is an interesting album, but non-fans of the band will probably not
find much to convince them otherwise here. For those who enjoy
Motorhead, this is a fairly essential piece of their canon despite for
obvious filler. Good, but not a bona fide classic.
Rating-7.5/10
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