Motörizer

''Motörizer'' is the nineteenth studio album by British rock band Motörhead. It was released on 26 August 2008, their eleventh and last on the Steamhammer label.

Recording

Recording took place at end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. As with all their albums since 2004's '' Inferno'', it was produced, mixed and engineered by Cameron Webb.

Release

Lemmy appeared on BBC 6 Music's radio programme, Bruce Dickinson's '' Friday Rock Show'' on 11 July 2008, to promote the album, playing the track "Runaround Man", which he described as:

He also played "Rock Out" and "The Thousand Names of God", about which he said:

The band's lead single "Rock Out" was featured as the official theme song to '' WWE Unforgiven'', and was used in the films '' Hesher'' and '' Nitro Circus: The Movie''.

Artwork

The album cover was revealed on the front page of the group's official website on 11 June 2008. Notable for being the band's first album since '' Overnight Sensation'' (1996) without the artwork of long-time collaborator Joe Petagno, the cover artwork is by Mark De Vito and features a Motörhead-themed coat of arms, with the shield quartered for each band member: the Royal Arms of England for Lemmy in the top left corner: the Draig Goch of Wales for Phil Campbell in the bottom right corner, the Tre Kronor of Sweden for Mikkey Dee in the bottom left corner, and Snaggletooth (the band's mascot) for the band as a whole.

Reception

The album was met with mostly positive reviews on release. Alex Henderson of Allmusic gave the album a positive review, saying that "the classic Motörhead sound prevails, and forceful, in-your-face tracks such as "Buried Alive", "Runaround Man", "When the Eagle Screams", and "Time Is Right" sound like they could have been recorded 25 years earlier. Motorizer never pretends to be groundbreaking, but if the material is predictable, it is engagingly predictable." Cosmo Lee of Pitchfork Media gave a positive review, saying that it was an improvements over recent Motorhead albums and that: "''Motörizer'' avoids the bland hard rock that larded up some of the band's recent records. Instead, its 11 tracks efficiently clock in at under 39 minutes. Lemmy turns 63 this year, but he still sounds half his age."

The album reached number 32 on the UK Albums Chart, making it the band's highest-charting album in the UK since '' 1916'' in 1991. The album debuted on ''Billboard'' chart at No. 82. It peaked at No. 2 on the UK Rock & Metal chart, and at No. 5 on the German 'Offizielle Top 100' & US Independent charts. As with the band's last few albums, it did not make a massive impact on the general public, but saw dedicated sales in markets where they had a strong following. "We've never had a hit in America", remarked Lemmy. "We actually got in the top 100 this time… Number 89 icand straight out again, but it's a start."Kern, Rob: "What's been the highlight of the shows? That I'm still alive!"; ''Classic Rock'' #138, November 2009, p19

Track listing

Personnel

Motörhead

* Lemmy – vocals, bass
* Phil Campbell – guitars
* Mikkey Dee – drums
* Wesley Mishener – slide guitar on "The Thousand Names of God"

Production

*Cameron Webb – producer, mixing, engineer
*Sergio Chavez – assistant engineer
*John Lousteau – assistant engineer
*Wesley Mischener – assistant engineer
*Josh Bierly – assistant engineer
*Kevin Bartley – mastering
*Lemmy – cover concept and inside digipak art
*Robert John – photography
*Mark De Vito – illustration
*Steffan Chirazi – creative direction
*Mark Abramson – art direction, graphic design

Charts

Release history

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Motorizer
2008 albums
Motörhead albums
SPV/Steamhammer albums