Motörhead Ace of Spades Album History/Review

Motörhead - Ace of Spades (1980)

Members:

Lemmy – vocals, bass, backing vocals on "Emergency"

"Fast" Eddie Clarke – lead guitar, lead vocals on "Emergency"

Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor – drums (except on "Please Don't Touch" & "Emergency")

Kim McAuliffe - rhythm guitar on "Please Don't Touch"

Kelly Johnson - co-lead vocals & co-lead guitar on "Please Don't Touch"

Enid Williams - bass on "Please Don't Touch" (NOTE: Enid and Lemmy play bass on the track, making it a six piece for this song)

Denise Dufort - drums on "Please Don't Touch" & "Emergency" (NOTE: Denise plays all the drums on the EP because Phil had a broken neck at the time)

Ace of Spades is the fourth studio album by the band Motörhead, released 8 November 1980, on Bronze Records. It peaked at No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart and reached Gold status by March 1981.[2] It was preceded by the release of the title track as a single on 27 October, which peaked in the UK Singles Chart at No. 15 in early November.

It was the band's debut release in the United States, with Mercury Records handling distribution in North America.

Production:

Production:

Vic "Chairman" Maile - producer, engineer & mixing

First Impression:

Classic release...not much more can be said.

As a teen I discovered Motörhead through the song "Iron Fist" which was the album after this one, but when I finally got my hands on this one I figured out what was so special about this band...pure raw Rock and Roll goodness, non apologetic, in your face power. This album made me a fan of this legendary band, and to this very day I will sing the praises of this band and especially this very line up...Lemmy, Phil, & Eddie will always be synonymous with this band and its legacy. This album is a beast and I can't be non biased about it...but in this review I will give my honest opinion about every track on the version I have which is the 1996 re-release. However before I dive into this record, let's cover some history about this band and this album...ahem....

By 1979, Motörhead had released two successful albums, Overkill and Bomber, and had gained a loyal fan following by constant touring and television appearances. Their ferocious, loud proto-thrash playing style appealed equally to punks and heavy metal fans alike, but in 1979 Sounds writer Geoff Barton coined the term "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" (NWOBHM) to classify a slew of newer bands such as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Saxon. Motörhead — a band that resented being labeled anything other than rock 'n' roll — was placed in this new genre, which would go on to influence the emerging thrash metal movement that would include bands like Metallica and Megadeth. In the 2011 book Overkill: The Untold Story of Motörhead, Author Joel McIver quotes vocalist and bassist Lemmy:

"..I like Iron Maiden and Saxon out of the new mob, and that's about it, really...We were too late for the first metal movement and early for the next one...Motörhead don't fit into any category, really. We're not straight heavy metal, because we're a rock 'n' roll band, which no-one knows how to market anymore.."

Regardless, the association with NWOBHM would be another positive element in the increasing momentum that would lead to the band's most successful commercial period at the beginning of the new decade. In fact, United Artists decided to finally release the band's "lost" first album at this time under the title On Parole, which had originally been recorded in 1976 but shelved because it was deemed commercially unviable. Next, the Big Beat label, which had taken over Chiswick's catalogue, released Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers (EP), packaging four extra tracks that the band had laid down for their debut album. Further evidence of Motörhead's nascent mainstream success was the release of the EP The Golden Years in May 1980 on Bronze Records, which became their highest charting release to date, peaking at #8.

Motörhead recorded Ace of Spades with Vic Maile at Jackson's Studios in Rickmansworth in August and September 1980. Maile, who had worked with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Who, had crossed paths with Lemmy when he was a member of Hawkwind.

And so the seeds were planted and the planets aligned for this release that would cement their place in the catalogs of both punk fans and metalheads the world over for generations. This album isn't at all perfect though but it can be used to define a large portion of this band's legacy as they would not stray too far from its formula all throughout their career...not that the previous albums were very different structurally but they were sonically less direct and a bit less in your face at times. So how can I review this one without kissing a ton of Motörhead ass? Well, you can't actually but I can be honest with how I see this album track by track...but I won't do that with this one as I will come off far too obnoxiously fanboy with this thing. Instead I will summarise my feelings about this album at the end of the review.

HOWEVER...I will add a bit of info about the connected EP (by way of 2 tracks off of the 1981 release "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" on the version that I have here) to this one that they recorded with the all female band Girlschool (another favorite band of mine by the way) under the name Headgirl.

Headgirl was a collaboration between Motörhead and Girlschool in 1980, the result being the St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP, though the groups were credited as Motör Headgirl School on the EP. The collaboration between Motörhead and Girlschool started in March 1979, when Motörhead began their first big tour with Overkill and Girlschool were their opening act. Lemmy had heard Girlschool's single "Take It All Away" and thought they were "fucking excellent" and liked the idea of girls being in a band. In his opinion, Kelly Johnson was as good as any guitarist that he had ever seen in his life and "wanted to stick it up these pompous bastard guitarists' arses". In late December 1980, Motörhead's drummer, Phil Taylor, broke his neck, preventing his continuing to play, so Motörhead's producer, Vic Maile, suggested they record a single with Girlschool. Lemmy chose "Please Don't Touch" by one of his favourite groups of the past, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. For the flipside, the bands recorded each other's songs — Girlschool performed "Bomber" and Motörhead performed "Emergency", although Denise Dufort played drums throughout. The record was released on 14 February 1981, as St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP and reaching No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart, it became the biggest hit either band ever had in the charts. On 6 February 1981 the bands had been filmed in concert for a Nottingham TV show called Rockstage and on 19 February 1981, billed as "Headgirl", they appeared on Top of the Pops playing "Please Don't Touch". With Girlschool as special guests on the Motörhead 2005 Inferno UK Tour, Lemmy joined the band at the end of their set at Brixton Academy on 19 November to play "Please Don't Touch" for the first time ever live.

In 1981 a Japanese 12" single was released on the Bronze/Victor label, based on "Please Don't Touch" under the name Motorschool. Issued in a picture sleeve, it included "Bomber" played by Girlschool, "Emergency" and "Bomber" played by Motörhead, and "Emergency" and "Yeah Right" played by Girlschool. Lyrics to the songs were printed in English and Japanese. Bronze used the Headgirl collaboration again in 1981, this time for a 12" vinyl release in the Netherlands called Hard Rock On 12 — the record plays "Please Don't Touch", "Stay Clean", "Metropolis" and "Demolition Boys" but listed entirely different tracks on the sleeve.

However as it must be said, nothing goes on forever and we all succumb to our fates, this is where I'll end this bit with the final facts on this original line-up of Motörhead and their kindred spirit band Girlschool...Kelly Johnson, formerly of Girlschool and also guitarist with Headgirl, died on the 15th of July 2007, aged 49, after suffering from cancer of the spine for six years. She was followed by former Motörhead drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor on the 11th of November 2015, aged 61, after succumbing to liver failure, by bassist-vocalist Lemmy on the 28th of December 2015, aged 70, from cancer, and by Motörhead's lead guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke on the 10th of January 2018, aged 67, from pneumonia. Motörhead broke up when 2015 ended, while Girlschool still perform to this day.

And as a side note about the lead single off that previously mentioned EP. "Please Don't Touch" is the debut single by English rock and roll group Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, released in 1959 reaching number 25 on the UK Singles Chart. Just for some info for you.

Track List:

1."Ace of Spades"2:48

2."Love Me Like a Reptile"3:23

3."Shoot You in the Back"2:39

4."Live to Win"3:37

5."Fast and Loose"3:23

6."(We Are) The Road Crew"3:13

7."Fire, Fire"2:44

8."Jailbait"3:33

9."Dance"2:38

10."Bite the Bullet"1:38

11."The Chase Is Better Than the Catch"4:18

12."The Hammer"2:48

Castle Communications 1996 CD reissue bonus tracks:

13."Dirty Love" 2:57

(B-side of Ace of Spades single)

14."Please Don't Touch"2:49

(St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP)

15."Emergency"3:00

(St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP)

Conclusion:

I didn't do the usual track by track for 2 major reasons:

1) this review would be far to fanboy like and I don't want to come off that way....although it did become more a history lesson and less like a review.

And...

2) in all honesty this is a legendary album with a ton of backstory and a ton of viewpoints on it. It's an album that is viewed differently by everyone who hears it and plays a part in the lives of millions of people world wide. I have no business stating my opinions in such a way as to make you see things on a different way and harboring a bit of hatred for me...I won't do that. All I will say about it in my own view is this, this album is not perfect, and I honestly think in some ways this band did much better later on, and not every song here is a winner on its own, but as a package there is not much else in this genre that can tough it for raw power and ambition. The lyrics are simple, the drumming is tight, and all the guitar work is stellar for its time. Lemmy delivers the goods like he always had done up to this point and even after, with his chin up and his middle finger out for everyone to see. This band always gave 110% to the music and never looked back. So for that this album will receive my highest rating and a major recommendation...more bands should be like this one always was...all about the Rock and Roll.

Score:  5/5

Possessed Revelations of Oblivion Album Review

Possessed - Revelations of Oblivion (2019)

Members:

Jeff Becerra – vocals

Emilio Márquez – drums

Daniel Gonzalez – guitar

Robert Cardenas – bass

Claudeous Creamer – guitar

This album was initially set for release in 2018, but was delayed. On March 15, 2019, the album title was revealed as Revelations of Oblivion, and it was released on 10 May 2019 (on Nuclear Blast Records), making it Possessed's first full album in 33 years. The album entered the UK Rock & Metal Singles and Albums Charts at #7 in its first week.

First Impressions:

Well, this was a surprise I really didn't see coming.

My first experience with Possessed came from a compilation cassette I got for free at Camelot records. This compilation had tracks from a lot of bands I knew of or became a fan of through it, bands like Death, Voivod, Dark Angel, Heathen, Agent Steel, and quite a few more. But among these tracks was a song called "Confessions" by this band and it just blew me away only 2 other songs on this tape had the same effect but this one stuck just a bit more. It was aggressive and grating in a way that just made you want to break things. The vocals and lyrics were just amazing and above all it was just relentless. I found out shortly after from a friend that this track was on an EP called "The Eyes of Horror" and he just so happened to have this and their other 2 albums in his collection, so he let me borrow them for a couple days. What I experienced was a true game changer for me in terms of my music taste. This band was raw and dark, plus it had this guttural feeling like it crawled straight from the depths of hell itself. This was my first taste of what would help create a much broader and more vicious genre of metal...DEATH METAL. Now quickly on that, there are those that see this band as the first real death metal band but from my perspective I never saw them as that, they were proto types for the genre along with a few other bands at that time, and they helped lay the foundation for what became death metal...however, Possessed deserves far more credit than that simply because they took an existing form of metal and mutated it into a solitary trademark sound and style all their own, a sound that influenced generations of death metal and thrash metal bands that came later. But, I digress....let's get back to this particular album. Now, I know Jeff, I've known him for quite a number of years in fact, but knowing that don't expect this review to be an ass kissing session, this will be done in an honest way with as little bias as I can do. But when this album hit I honestly wasn't expecting it...now Jeff did hint at it and dance around it for a while but when it was on point for release I was surprised, he started pitching it all over social media and when I knew it was really gonna hit, my mind flashed back to those days when I first heard this band, and I got all stoked up for it...but now that it is out, and has been for a while now, was it worth the 3 decade wait? Well let's get out our exorcism kits and make this beast confess its sins, track by track as always....Let's Do This!!!

1. "Chant Of Oblivion" 1:54

Your basic intro track that sets up the mood for the album. Church bells and chanting and some kinda horror movie symphonic music...makes me want to watch an old horror movie.

2. "No More Room In Hell" 4:48

And now the chaos begins, pure aggression and that trademark Becerra vocal style that hasn't changed since "Eyes of Horror". This is a furious whirlwind of a track, it just doesn't let up for a second. The guitars on this thing just slice through the production on this and assaults your ears in a very satisfying way. This is a great track and shows this band hasn't missed a beat.

3. "Dominion" 4:25

This one shows off what I believe about this band. They are more than others label them. This track has a great thrash foundation where other much darker elements are added. This track has a groove to it that sets it apart from the crop of what people would label as Death Metal these days. This is a track that would be at home on any of their albums.

4. "Damned" 5:01

Another one that is a beast, it starts by slow plodding your senses then just cutting into your very soul. This bludgeonfest of a track is one of those songs that you need to listen to be couple times to dissect it, there is a bit more going on here than a single listen could reveal. It is very aggressive and for me, that is a very good thing.

5. "Demon" 5:16

I don't care what others say, this band wears its bay area thrash roots on its sleeve...now if it's intentional, I don't know but this (and many other songs by this group) really puts it in front of you. The dark and aggressive twist to it is there as well and that is this bands unique signature. More Death Metal bands need to do this, Possessed is a progression from their roots, they add to it and complement those roots but never deny they are there...this track really shows that whole story.

6. "Abandoned" 5:21

More pounding and head cracking...this band just loves to throw a barrage of concepts and sounds at you. This one is a "face melter" in the purest sense. The whole thing is just relentless in its tempo and Jeff just forces out the lyrics like they are going to be his last words. There is a slightly slower part in the middle that kinda reminds me of early Sodom and that is never a bad thing. Even in that slower part this track is still punishing. This is a brilliant piece of aggressive metal (whatever sub genre you want to call it). I really dig this one, I really really do.

7. "Shadowcult" 4:44

Now Jeff pitched this track for quite a bit on social media and I was very curious about it. This track has a "Beyond the Gates" feel to it mostly. Can't say much more than that, that album had its own presence to it and this track echoes that very presence. Its not overly complicated structurally but it just doesn't let up for a second. I really enjoy how this track feels. It just feels right.

8. "Omen" 6:41

Oh boy....more church bells. Has Jeff been listening to too much Cradle of Filth? This one really has a Cradle feel to it...that could work both for and against them but knowing Jeff, he doesn't care about that much. This is a very dynamic track and presents the listener with a nice sonic landscape to explore, but the aforementioned elephant in the room is the Cradle type structure this one has. It's ambitious to be sure and it works on this album as a whole but it does come a bit out of left field.

9. "Ritual" 4:47

Nice aggressively creepy riffage starts this one....then comes the sledgehammer to the face. Damn this track just pummeled you into submission, it shares a "Seven Churches" quality on its relentless aggression and shows off more of the Death Metal side of the band structurally. This is a brutal song that makes its point in the 4:47 it has, then it leaves what's left of you to twitch in your agony...this track is that brutal and ends that suddenly....it's beautiful.

10. "The Word" 5:09

Fade in and sound like a Norwegian black metal band...this track does just that in its own way at first then it goes into a more typical Possessed style. What Jeff and company has done so far on this album is actually refreshing. They cross boundaries and just use whatever makes their songs unique. I hear things that would work on albums from bands like Immortal, Trypticon, and Xentrix...just bits and pieces and in this track they all work very well together. If more bands in this genre did stuff like this, nobody could call the genre boring. Well done guys....very well done.

11. "Graven" 4:19

This one received a video (viewable below by the way) and deservedly so. If any song on here could be a poster boy for the whole album, this is it. It encompasses a lot of the components that are the core of this album. This track in particular is just ball bustingly aggressive and punchy. It is coarse and evil but very well executed in every way that matters for this particular genre. Nice vocal presence with a very demanding undertone to it...you had better bet this track was designed to fill this albums Satan quota as well, because he is mentioned all over this one and what a glorious thing it is here.

12. "Temple Of Samael" 1:50

The closer...another soundscape with an acoustic guitar laid over it to aid in the desolate feeling to it. Nice way to close out a very good multi faceted album.

Conclusion:

Well 33 years is a long time between full releases and one would wonder of the band would actually make something worthy of their original legacy...did Possessed pull that task off? I would say, yes. Not that this album is perfect, it really isn't. It has its fair share of odd inconsistencies and production quirks that kind of take from the intentions behind some of the songs, but as a whole experience this is a great album and fits along side its other brethren albums very well...it mostly feels like an evolution off the last EP "The Eyes of Horror" and even goes into even older territory at times while also presenting some fresher ideas for the band. Now if this is followed up in the near future is anyone's guess, but if it follows the same pattern as this one...it will also be a gem, and well worth the time invested in it.

Score: 4.5/5