Thursday, July 12, 2012

#166: Motörhead - Ace of Spades (1980)



Zack: Lemmy, the lead singer and bassist of Motörhead, is a personal idol to me for his ability to not be dead when heshould be. The dude drinks an entire fifth of whiskey by himself EVERY DAY and refuses to eat anything but meat and cheese but is still in perfect health. That shouldn’t be possible. Plus he has had the intercoursewith so many women that his penis should, medically speaking, be weeping in a corner somewhere begging for mercy. Finally, I’m amazed he hasn’t been executed during a world tour because containing that much awesome is a capital offense in most nations. Oh, and he did this sick song with Dave Grohl (another personal idol) for Grohl’s Probots album. But enough about my man crush (that’s right, I like the bad boys. I’m so sure I can change him). It’s time to talk about Ace of Spades. It’s got a metal intensity but played at punk speeds. Basically, it’s speed metal on speed. For the most part, the faster they play, the better Motörhead sounds. Just the way that band is constructed, if they slow it down to anything below 11, it just sounds off. Like they’re not playing at their full potential. Luckily, on this album, those moments are few and far between. It’s a solid 37 minutes of fast-paced, vicious, testosteroney metal. And it is, I can safely say, my favorite metal album to date.
Favorite Tracks: Ace of Spades; The Chase Is Better Than the Catch; Hammer

Emily: Metal is an interesting genre. It seems that it can be broken down into so many splinter genres that very little metal music is purely “metal.” Motörhead, however, seems to have bucked that trend (okay, it’s a trend I made up) with Ace of Spades.  It’s metal through and through. The guitar riffs are loud and distinctive – you know it’s a Motörhead song when you hear it. The quick repetition of these rhythms, along with Lemmy’s screamy yet tuneful lead singing, powers each track towards headbangers’ delight.
Favorite Tracks: Love Me Like a Reptile; Ace of Spades; The Chase is Better than the Catch

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