Motörhead
Overkill

THE REVIEW

This album that is an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT album that influenced bands like Venom, Possessed, Slayer, Metallica, and the list would be even longer. In 1979, Motorhead gave birth to this magnificent album "OVERKILL":

The album opens with the title track "Overkill", the most famous song by Motorhead that I would define as proto-thrash together with "Ace of Spades" is supported by Taylor's stratospheric drumming, Lemmie's hoarse voice does the rest to deliver this song to the history of metal and rock (Motorhead has always been great friends with the Ramones, in fact, they composed the song R.A.M.O.N.E.S. for them). The song after "Stay Clean" is much closer to hard rock, heavily backed by Clark's guitar and a catchy chorus, followed by "(I Won't) Pay Your Price", this song is all mid-tempo with Taylor's drumming creating a fantastic smoky pub atmosphere, and in "I'll Be Your Sister", everything is built on Lemmy's bass with Taylor and Clark following to give it energy.

"Capricorn" which is the most atypical track on the album, opens with very soft drumming that seems to come from deep space, showcasing the English combo's more hard rock and bluesy side, in "No Class" it starts with some great guitar riffs from Clark, joined shortly by Taylor, the solo brings this beautiful song to completion along with the title track as the album's best pieces. "Damage Case" covered along with "Overkill" by Metallica in Garage Inc., who as youngsters were big fans of Motorhead, the drumming here is quite fast and accompanies us throughout the song with Lemmy's magnificent voice leading us to the next song "Tear Ya Down" which opens with Lemmy's bass, with Taylor creating a fantastic mid-tempo. "Metropolis" dedicated to Fritz Lang's film about a bleak future à la Blade Runner brings us back to a great '70s hard rock sound. "Limb From Limb", the last track on the album where Lemmy plays the guitar instead of his usual bass, begins with a Lemmy solo and ends with beautiful drumming that concludes this magnificent album delivered to history.

In 1998, five bonus tracks were added, the first "Too Late, Too Late" (B-side of Overkill), the beginning is similar to "Capricorn" and follows the song along the same lines, "Like A Nightmare" (B-side of No Class) starts with a great guitar riff on which the entire song is built. "Louie, Louie" instead is much closer to punk than to hard rock or metal, the instrumental version of "Tear Ya Down" is very close to hard rock and in my opinion more beautiful than the original version, the last bonus track "Louie, Louie" in another version even closer to punk rhythms (Motorhead also covered "God Save The Queen" by the Sex Pistols).

LINE-UP

Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister - Vocals & Bass
Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor - Drums
Edward "Fast Eddie" Clark - Guitars & Backing Vocals

TRACKLIST:

1. Overkill
2. Stay Clean
3. (I Won't) pay your price
4. I'll be your sister
5. Capricorn
6. No Class
7. Damage Case
8. Tear Ya Down
9. Metropolis
10. Limb From Limb

BONUS TRACKS:

1. Too Late, Too Late (B-side of Overkill)
2. Like A Nightmare (B-side of No Class)
3. Louie, Louie
4. Tear Ya Down (Instrumental Version)
5. Louie, Louie (Alternative Version)