Motörhead - S/T (1977)

I might go fully sacrilegious here, but fuck it, because I know that Motörhead was Megadeth before Megadeth. Because just like the thrash band, Motörhead was spawned after an infected break up, this time between Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and Hawkwind. To shorten things up, Lemmy was arrested for drug possession, which gave the band the perfect excuse to kick him out. Lemmy then created a new band, one that he initially wanted to call Bastard, but eventually settled with Motörhead, because it was the name of the last Hawkwind song he wrote and it sounded cool.

The song itself is just what we would hear from the band in the future. It is fast, catchy, and contains some wacky lines like "Fourth day, five day marathon/We're moving like a parallelogram". There is one thing though that separates this song, and this album, from its future brethren though, and that is the heaviness factor. Just like with Judas Priest's debut record, "Rocka Rolla", "Motörhead" is more rock and roll than metal, an album made by a band that is just starting out, and have not fully evolved its sound just yet. "Motörhead" is not the only song that was originally written for Hawkwind, we also got the groovy and bluesy "The Watcher", and the more traditional "Lost Johnny", two songs that are fine additions to this album.

But then we dig deeper into the "newer" songs, and the Lemmy influences are showing its ugly (or beautiful?) face. With a title like "Vibrator", Lemmy brings us just what we expect from him, a song about a woman's favourite tool. The song could have been a little heavier, but the lyrics are simply brilliant, sure to give you a good laugh or two. And then we have "White Line Fever", which is about cocaine. Pretty interesting topics, especially considering this album was released in 1977.

The songs hold a nice quality still to this date, and are really enjoyable, but seen as a whole, "Motörhead" is an uneven production wreck that is some times hard to comprehend. The volume goes up and down, and the rough exterior might give it character, but hides a lot of good stuff in the process. I believe it is at its best on both the title track and the "Overkill" predecessor "Keep Us On The Road", but it is obvious that the band does not get a fair chance to display their full power.

I also wanna state that ending with a cover of the famous Tiny Bradshaw cover "The Train Kept a-Rollin'" is not a very original move (maybe it was back then, I don't know, but it has been covered several times over the years by The Yardbirds, Aerosmith, and others), and while it is well done, only utilizing the faster section of the original, I do not think it adds all to much in an album that technically already has three Hawkwind covers. So a good fun listen for sure, but not necessary in any way.

Overall though, I think Lemmy, drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, and guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke does a good job, bringing us an energetic lightning bolt that is very rough around the edges, but still has a lot of charm. Even if this is an early rendition of what would eventually become the Motörhead we know and love, it is still a nice rock and roll album that is not afraid of showing what it is made out of, being in your face from the start. So not a fully brilliant start to Motörhead, but a good one nonetheless.

Songs worthy of recognition: Motorhead, Vibrator, Keep Us On The Road

Rating: 7/10 Watchers

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Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (1977)

Now that the foundation of their sound was finished, Judas Priest started to take it to a heavier and a more aggressive level with their third full length album, and their first under a major label, "Sin After Sin". Even if the band made progress with the change of record label and their sound, the problem of finding the right drummer remained, as Alan Moore left the band (for the second time) during the recording of the album. Instead, it was Simon Phillips who helped record the drums for the record, and because Simon was committed to another band, Leslie Binks became the official drummer once the band went on tour again.

But enough of the endless line of drummers that has come and gone through the Priest, "Sin After Sin" was produced by former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover. Even if this cooperation did not work at first, he did manage to help the band in the end, creating a really nice sounding album for this era. It is certainly the clearest production up to this point of the band's career, and it still has that rough edge that personified the ever evolving Priest sound.

"Sin After Sin" was also the album that gave the band its first commercial success, but strangely, it was not thanks to any of their own material. Instead, it was the Joan Baez cover "Diamonds & Rust" that got the most air time on the radio stations. I do agree that it is an enjoyable cover, and it is a hell of a lot more exciting than the original, but I feel like this is in the same genre as the Kiss song "I Was Made For Loving You", which means that this would be classified as rock disco. Still, I would dance to it.

While "Diamonds & Rust" got the most success, I believe that there are other songs in this record that should have been praised, like the last song of the album, "Dissident Aggressor". This song was the band's heaviest to date, and is a early blue print to thrash metal. It is heavy, fast, aggressive, and it uses double bass, a recipe that would later inspire such bands as Motörhead, Metallica, Slayer and others (Slayer has even done a cover of the song in "South of Heaven"). In my humble opinion, it was with that song that the heavier part of Judas Priest was born.

The opening is also pretty note worthy, because even if "Sinner" is not too aggressive in its approach, it still got some good speed in it, and a groovy chorus that is irresistible. We also have "Starbreaker", that could be best described as a early version of one of the band's coming classics, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'". It basically got the same feeling and riffing, just different lyrics and a slightly easier approach.

But what happened to the progressive elements that was so prominent in "Sad Wings of Destiny"? They are still here, but they are not as great as one would have hoped. While I do enjoy songs like "Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest" and "Here Come The Tears", I still miss that magic touch that "Sad Wings of Destiny" had. The reason for this could be that "Sin After Sin" is more divided in its sound than its predecessor, but I am not really sure.

No matter what, "Sin After Sin" is still a fantastic and enjoyable record with several cool songs that would secure the future for the band. While it is still a step down from "Sad Wings of Destiny", it still got a own, heavy personality that is easy to like for what it is. If nothing else, this one marked the start for the well diverse Judas Priest that we know of today, the one that can combine its heavy and more progressive songs in a synergy that is simply amazing. The band shows once again that they are stabbing and bawling, punching and crawling all the way to the top.

Songs worthy of recognition: Dissident Aggressor, Starbreaker, Here Come The Tears

Rating: 8/10 Sinners

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