"Ace of Spades" Album Review
Alpha101 Motorhead is one of the most recognized metal bands in history, and for good reason. From Lemmy's unmistakably raspy but groovy voice, their bad-boy image, or their impact on music, this is one seriously talented band. I used to be a huge Motorhead fan, until I started listening to their other albums. That is the problem with Motorhead. They don't have one single bad record, but all their album's sound exactly the same. They use the philosophy "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" too frequently. After hearing most of their albums, I just stopped listening to them. It got to be dull, boring, and a chore to listen to their music. I recently picked up "Ace of Spades" once more, and I had a great time with it. I forgot about all of their other mediocre albums, and started to jam out, like I once did whenever I first heard the band."Ace of Spades" is the song we all know and love. Lemmy does some of his best work on this track, with the relatable lyrics, raspy vocals, and the song's ability to crawl into your head and to never leave. Seriously, I've been singing this song for YEARS!
"Love Me Like a Reptile" has a great opening riff, and, like the song above, it's very catchy. Seriously, who can refuse singing along to that chorus? It's one of the strongest on the album, and one of Motorhead's most impressive songs.
"Shoot You in The Back" is an okay track, nothing more. The chorus is catchy, but that's the only likable thing that I could take from this song. It's skippable, but not horrible.
"Live to Win" is a pretty underrated song from the band. It has a sexy riff (that's the only adjective that I could use to describe it), it's raw, and has a nice solo included, which is pretty rare from the band. Sure, their guitarist isn't bad, but he rarely impresses me. Well, in this one, he does.
"Fast and Loose" has another great opening riff, some cliche but enjoyable lyrics, and another short but sweet chorus. It's a good song, but nothing too special.
"(We Are) The Roadcrew" is one of the best on the entire album. It's easily my favorite Motorhead song, as it is unbelievably catchy, likable, and, in a way, perfect. Seriously, try not to bob your head to this one. You can't, it's impossible!
"Fire Fire" is catchy, but that's it. No one in the band really shines in this one, and it feels like the song was rushed. I will admit, it has a pretty good guitar solo in it, though. That's really the only high-point in the song.
"Jailbait" is another very likable song, but also another one that doesn't really take much effort to play. I like this one, but it's not up to par with a lot of the band's other songs.
"Dance" was, originally, my least favorite song on the album. Over time, it's grown on me. It isn't a great song, but it does deserve more credit than it gets.
"Bite the Bullet" was a bad track. That's all that I have to say about it.
"The Chase is Better Than the Catch" really improved my mood towards the album. The last four or five songs have been dry and boring, but this one changed it around. It's one of the band's better songs, and one of the best on the record.
"The Hammer" has a fantastic opening, and does a pretty good job closing the album.
Overall, yes, this album does have LOADS of problems. The beginning and ending of the album were great, but the middle is so dull and uninteresting. I've listened to this album a good ammount, and those songs still have yet to grow on me. This seems to be one of those albums that has three or four great songs, and the rest are garbage. It does have loads of problems, but, whether you like the band or not, you can't deny that this is easily one of the most defining metal albums ever produced. I still like this album, and the band, even though they've let me down many times in the past, including with this album.
7.8/10 - Pretty Good Album