I would like to start by thanking Metallica for introducing me to Motorhead. I'd only ever heard covers and Ace Of Spades prior to this, and a friend we shall call Varg, overplayed the shit out of that one Motorhead song. However, thanks to Metallica - Hero Of the Day (Featuring The Whole Motorheadache Mess) I later ventured into Motorhead all on my own, and the first thing I picked up was the album Overkill.
The song that leads off this album is the title track. It's one of the heaviest, hardest, thundering songs I have ever heard. It is the perfect mix of Hard/Metal/Punk. This song makes Thrash Metal it's bitch, after snorting a line of coke and sodomizing anything that musically resembles Deathklok, has to offer. Oh yeah, the song doesn't have just one fake ending. It comes back to skull fuck you twice with bone rattling fury. It's the perfect overkill.
Stay Clean is a great second track. It's one of those songs I would cover with the right group of guys. It's just a good tune.
(I Won't) Pay Your Price is okay. I find it a bit filler, but rockin' filler all the same. It's easy to listen to, especially placed between Stay Clean and I'll Be Your Sister. That's one of my favourite songs on this album. I love Lemmy's bass on this one, it just has a great Rock hook, mixed with a little gallop.
Track five is Capricorn. I'm not sure what to make of this song after more than a decade. It's like Motorhead doing some hippy trippy shit. It's some Iron Butterfly like Acid Rock, without the church organ. I love the song, but at the same time find it odd and out of place.
Th next song is a pretty basic sounding Motorhead song. I'm sure many people would argue it's an album filler. I respect those people and say, "Suck my ass." To which they say I have No Class, one of my favourite songs on this album.
Okay, I admit, not the best joke. But, I do really like this song. It's another song I would have gladly covered, even though it's a bit typical for Motorhead.
Damage Case is my favourite Motorhead songs covered by Metallica. As for the Motorhead version, It's in my top ten. I love growling the choruses, banging my head, and pumping my fist to this one.
I'm not a big fan of Tear Ya Down. It's a bit of a typical Motorhead song. But there is an alternate version of the song that at least conjures fuzzy memories. Metropolis is like Capricorn. I love the song, but it sounds out of place with Motorhead performing it.
Limb From Limb finishes off the original vinyl version of this album. It's not the greatest ending to an album, but it's still damn good.
The CD release of the Overkill album, at least the one I own, contains five bonus tracks. Too Late Too Late, which was a b-side to the Overkill single. Like A Nightmare, which also was a b-side, but to No Class, and instrumental version of Tear Ya Down, and two different versions of Louie, Louie.
The first song, Too Late Too Late, does nothing for me. It was a b-side because it wasn't good enough to make the album. That's how I see it anyway. The same thing could also be said about Like A Nightmare, except I like it the same way I like Metropolis and Capricorn.
My warm fuzzy memory for Tear Ya Down comes from my video production class, when I was in the Journlism program at St. Clair college. Let me start by saying that when I'm the most reliable and dependable person in the class there's a problem. Well, the instrumental version of this song, found as a bonus track on the Overkill CD, saved my classes ass. This happened to be a newer album to me, when the person responsible for the introduction music for our news broadcast totally dropped the ball. I quickly tossed them the CD and told them to pop on this track. Not only did it do the job, but the "normal" people were a little turned on by it. The headbangers just considered it an easy win.
I'm not sure why there needed to be two versions of Louie, Louie on the same album. One says that it's an alternate version, and it isn't that alternate really. It really seemed silly to have two.
However, hearing Motorhead perform Louie, Louie is really awesome. This is one of those great classic Rock & Roll songs, and Motorhead give it the respect that it deserves. It's a classic party tune for the modern age.
To this day, Overkill is still my favourite Motorhead album. It rocks, it rolls, it kicks ass and can't be bothered to learn any names. This album is bad ass, in ways that no one aside from Motorhead can do.
8/10 - content
8/10 - production
9/10 - personal bias
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