Motorhead -- Inferno

Released: June, 2004
Availble: All Major Music Sources
Label: SPV (Independant Label)

Motorhead stands as an icon of Rock 'N' Roll, and it's my belief everyone should have at least one album in their collection. With over thirty years of history (2010 marks the 35th Anniversary) there are nearly twenty studio albums out there.

Let's look at Inferno. The album is one of my favorites, and the album cover is cool. If you don't know who Motorhead are, at the release of this album Motorhead is a trio of Lemmy, Mikkey Dee, and Phil Campbell.

Terminal Show - There is no fade in, intro, or even a count it. The album opens up with full guitar/bass/drums at volume and speed. A fast paced romp through the age old question of why we're here. Steve Vai provides a kickin' guitar solo in the middle.

Killers - Without slowing down track thunders on, Killers is a motorhead staple of songs about battle and war. Turn the volume up and play it loud, there's no deep philosophy to dwell on.

In The Name Of Tragedy - One of my favorite tracks on the album. A song about life's troubles and trials. The chorus is what caught me on this one. While he verses go on about losses and all the stupid things we do that mess up our lives the chorus tells us to stop whining and get it sorted out.

Suicide - Slowing things down just a little, without lowering the volume. Suicide is commentary on modern society, and the slow suicide of the human race through war, wasted resources, and greed.

Life's A Bitch - Speeding right back up the fifth track provides an important message. It's a fast and hard track, but the outro kinds of kills it, it's one of those extended drum roll things where the drummer feels the needs to hit every piece of the kit with the guitars wail on for half a dozen notes too many.

Down On Me - Still not slowing down, the album so far is a testament to the fact that you don't need to pause in the action. Another guitar solo from Steve Vai here, giving the song a bit of a kick.

In The Black - This one has a slower, crunchy guitar riff to it that's catchy. The guitar solo is punctuated by a change up in the drumming as well, extra tasty. I think you could remove the lyrics, toss in some more guitar solos and this would make a great instrumental.

Fight - "Put The Bass Up Will Ya." And the song takes off at a gallop. As close to a stadium anthem as this album will give you, the lyrics of the song are simple and shouted, mostly repeated words.

In The Year Of The Wolf - A steady, slower, track. Though by no means slow. A look back to the more primal thoughts, less domestic days. You can almost picture Viking long ships making their way to some hapless village. . .

Keys To The Kingdom - Still bringing it down in tempo just a little, without turning down the volume. The song could be about Lucifer after he was thrown out of Heaven and left to wander. Or a loss in faith. Either way it's a great track.

Smiling Like A Killer - Speeding right back up, this song always strikes me as a bit funny. Every horror movie trope creeps through the verses as the song speeds along. There's more humor than fright in this one.

Whorehouse Blues - The album ends with a down tempo track, drummer Mikkey Dee leaves the drum kit for a moment to give the track a double guitar sound. The song is a straight blues riff, something motorhead has used throughout their carreer in their songs. This time it's all acoustic calssic blues. Halfway through Lemmy plays the harmonica. The song is about Motorhead's career.

Motorhead has delivered solid fast paced album, good old Rock N Roll. Some of the songs have lyrics deeper than your average rock or metal album, some of them not very deep at all.

Everyone should own a Motorhead album, just so they know what good rock/metal really sounds like. It's Lemmy after all.