Motorhead - March Or Die (1992)

Now, Motorhead, not exactly a complex conundrum of a band. Lemmy and company have knocked out hordes of wild, punk 'n' roll and downright oily anthems over the years, but the reality is, although their back catalogue could roast a pig in minutes, it's often been considered patchy and on that I'll agree. For me Motorhead have reeled off more of the same type melodies for years and fans have been okay with that, and of course the fans will always recall the angry days of 'Ace Of Spades' and I can certainly put on the black slick of 'Orgasmatron' and feel threatened, but for me, it wasn't until the '90s that the band, or should I say, Lemmy and whoever supported him, that they really came out of the scrapyard and delivered music to truly demolish. 'March Or Die, despite several weak moments, has a few pivotal tracks which were the shape of things to come. Several critics argued that 'March...' was in fact more of the same, and many had been disappointed with 'Rock n Roll' and '1916' and I think the metal world had kind of appreciated Motorhead but gently put them to the wayside. 'March Or Die' crashes in with the abrupt 'Stand', nothing out of the ordinary and the 'Cat Scratch Fever Cover' is pretty pointless, but 'Bad Religion' has a slight grim swagger, but is immediately watered down by the rather mundane 'Jack The Ripper', whereas the appearance of Ozzy on 'I Aint No Nice Guy' provides soothing respite, but the sheer weight of 'Hellraiser' sees the band shift into a modern way of thinking. The clanking drums, the big, ballsy chorus and general wrecking ball approach is more than what the band have offered previously, but unfortunately, 'March Or Die' withers without effect until the last track, the marching darkness of the title cut which sees Lemmy at his most apocalyptic and grimiest...it's an album that's hard to like, but from here onwards Lemmy would suddenly discover the Devil just like so many teenage metallers all those years ago, and the next few records would literally obliterate the past and reduce buildings to rubble..

6/10