Motörhead – Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 2007 (BMG)
Never has there been a more loved band than Motörhead, the biggest, the baddest, the loudest, they are the epitome of rock n roll. So what the hell are they doing at Montreux Jazz Festival? Well Lemmy and the boys have never turned anyone away, fans of any genre from any walk of life can experience Motörhead, when they were asked to play the storied jazz festival that has always had its arms open blues, rock and other forms of music, and in 2007 it made perfect sense.
Previously unreleased, Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival is a snapshot of a band in the middle of a resurgence, captured during the Kiss Of Death Tour, Lemmy, Phil and Mikkey are all firing with live rounds as Snaggletooth shifts into Stay Clean, Mikkey’s drumming wild but restrained Lemmy’s lead bass making lots of noise as Phil drifts off into his bluesy guitar playing. The production is raw but perfectly shows what a Motörhead concert is like, raucous, wild and loud as anything you’ve ever heard. The distorted Be My Baby leads into the shredfest of Killers and the stomp of Metropolis, the throwback of I Got Mine paving the way for the brilliant In The Name Of Tragedy and Sword Of Glory from Kiss Of Death, these more recent songs, slotting into the set with ease. Of course in 2023, they could be considered old favourites but show just how good Motörhead still were when it came to new material in 2007.
They also pay tribute to the other baddest band on the planet as they pull out a cover of Rosalie by Thin Lizzy just before the thrashtastic Sacrifice. Bloody brilliant, Lemmy is always the affable frontman, his grizzled growl shouting songs he’s played thousands of times as if it was the first airing, the trio doing their best to wake up the whole of Switzerland with Going To Brazil, the stomping Killed By Death and Iron Fist. The only time there is slowdown is with the acoustic Whorehouse Blues, inciting a mass clap-along. Now I love this song but of course they can’t end with this (though I think it would have made the perfect closer) the real end comes with Ace Of Spades and Overkill, these lightning quick versions, impressive for band who at the time were in their 30th year.
Motörhead were and are, one of the best musical exports the UK has produced, they define rock n roll and on this one night in Switzerland they use a varied setlist to try and burn down the gambling house once more. 9/10
Luke Morley - Songs From The Blue Room (Conquest Music)
Luke Morley is the co-founder, chief songwriter, producer and guitarist of British rock institution Thunder (and Terrraplane) a position he has held since 1989. During the downtime of Thunder Morley founded blues/roots band The Union, who he released three albums with, two collaboration albums with Thunder frontman Danny Bowes and a previous solo album.
With Bowes recovering from his recent head injury, Thunder on hiatus, Morley set about writing anothe solo album. Finally released under the title Songs From The Blue Room, this is an eclectic, rootsy selection of cuts, reliant more on acoustics than the electric guitars he uses so regularly with his main band. The gospelinfluence I Wanna See The Light a joyous way to open up this album, Morley showing off his songwriting, guitar playing and his vocals too. First single Killed By Cobain, is introspective, telling of how bands such as Thunder were destroyed by the grunge explosion of the early 90's. He's not bitter though, a positive chorus reflecting the resurgence that the band have been having since they reformed in 2011.
From here it's waltzing ballad Enroll Flynn, about heroes of yesteryear, while Damage is rockier as Nobody Cares feels like a song played on a piano at the end of the night in a smoke filled bar. I said that the songs are eclectic here, Songs From The Blue Room, the songs that perhaps Morley felt didn't fit with Thunder, with Lying To Myself in the sounds of country, the funk influx comes on I'm The One You Want while Don't Belong bit The Beatles. Watch The Sun Go Down definitely could be a Thunder song though it also sounds like Del Amitri.
Morley has created an album that will please the Thunder cohort but also manages to highlight different sides of his songwriting. 8/10
Burner - It All Returns To Nothing (Church Road Records) [Matt Bladen]
I dare you to find an angrier album this year. It All Returns To Nothing is the debut LP from UK ragers Burner. It’s a 33 minute explosion of noise that melds hardcore, death and black metal, an unstoppable force of nature that will rip and tear at your flesh, before spinning you round with their dizzying ferocity. Having been praised highly on their EP, this album continues the vibe of being an unstoppable force while adding nuance to make sure their melancholic message is heard. Most of the songs are sub 4 minute explosions of loudness, from the black metal tinged Pillar Of Shame, the brutal death of the title track and the beatdown groves of Prometheus Reborn, they deliver their message as succinctly as possible, inciting maximum violence as they do.
Only the nearly 8 minute An Affirming Flame is the most diverse song on the album, incorporating a myriad of influences showing that Burner are more than just a band who play short shit kickers, they can add melody, sensitivity and a wider sense of technical prowess. Without this song It All Returns To Nothing would be good but with it, it’s great. I’ll be waiting to see if they use longer formats on their next album as variety is the spice of life. Even if the stay as they are Burner have laid the groundwork to be one of the biggest extreme metal finds of this year with their debut LP. 8/10
Monoatomic God - À L’Origine Du Monde (Self Released)
Loosely inspired by Andy Weir's novel The Egg, À L’Origine Du Monde is the debut album from French stoner/doom band Monoatomic God. Dealing with such high brow concepts as Albert Camus’, Myth of Sisyphus, Natural Sciences and science fiction, they put with classic stoner doom, choppy guitars from Albert Leroy, segues into psychedelic leads on opener Margins Of A Superstructure. His guitar playing comes from the 70's rock scene rather than the doom metal one. I mean A Graveside Story brings distortion, and a lot of this record has fuzz, in the solos the 70's rock vibes permeate.
Metazoa is built on the groovy bottom end of Olivier Belli (bass) and François Debras (drums), which then itself turns into some blissed out grooves towards the end with more tasty guitar work. Belli comes from the same class as Geezer Butler and Leif Edling where he's a bassist that writes the lyrics to these songs, he also is the main instrument on the serpentine tirlw track. As the 38 minutes of this album continues you get some serious Sabbath Worship on Funeral Orbiter, organ being used brilliantly against Laetitia Convertini bluesy/gritty vocals.
Monoatomic God arrive on the scene with some classic doom sounds on their debut. 7/10
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