Motorhead
Snake Bite Love
[BMG]


The release of a new Motorhead CD is always a bittersweet event. On the one hand, this is *Motorhead*, a band that have given us so many completely amazing albums that no matter what they put out, they can not tarnish their own name (Celtic Frost anyone ?). But on the other, those days are now sadly long gone, and while they do still manage to crank out some great tracks here and there, they will never again reach the zenith that they have in the past.

Musically, "Snake Bite Love" isn't that far removed from their last studio opus, "Overnight Sensation" (which was in my opinion, along with the "1916" album, the 2 greatest things they have released since "Another Perfect Day", and very much in league with both "Orgasmatron" and "Rock'n'Roll"). The most irritating thing about this album has got to be the production. It's just too modern sounding, and therefore makes a lot of the material seem sterile. When I first popped this into my CD player, my initial reaction was "Well, this isn't a bad riff...but something is wrong...WAIT!!! Where's the fucking BASS in the mix!?!?!" The bass *IS* there, but come on, Motorhead were a totally bottom end bass driven band, and therefore it should be pumped up to the nth degree - we should be able to hear every single nuance as play by the great Lemmy...but that isn't the case here...the "tone" of the bass just isn't as sharp as it used to be, and it doesn't have the trademark Rickenbacker sound we've all come to know and love. Thankfully this isn't present throughout the whole CD, but it was quite a low point to start from. The only other problem I really have with this CD is the track order - the majority of the better material is placed on the end of the CD, with the weaker songs being showcased first....but enough about the negatives aspects of this album, lets move on to the positive...and that can be summed up with four words..."Don't Lie To Me. Track 8 on the CD is, without a doubt, one of the greatest Motorhead song in a VERY long time (and funnily enough, it's the only song on SBL penned exclusively by Lemmy without the rest of the band - brings to mind the old adage of "Too many cooks spoil the broth"). It's very much a dirty old rock'n'roll, Chuck Berry/Little Richard type of affair, and recalls in great part the phenomenal "Going To Brazil" track off "1916". This song alone makes the entire CD worth picking up...which is not to say the rest of the album is mediocre - it IS a solid album, but "Don't Lie To Me" is without question the highlight. Still, if you enjoyed "Overnight Sensation", I can't see you not enjoying this. It's true, Motorhead have put out a few stinkers in the last decade ("Sacrifice", "Bastards", and "March or Die" to be exact), but when the scales are finally weighed out, even though Motorhead will never reach the heights up to and including "Another Perfect Day" (and I only use this album as a reference point, as it is what I considered the last TRULY great Motorhead CD), they still manage to put out more good material than bad. A worthwhile release from a legendary band.


© 1999 chorazaim