Overkill in Bloomington, MN

Motoerhead
's landmark second album,
Overkill
, marked a major leap forward for the band, and it remains one of their all-time best, without question. In fact, some fans consider it their single best, topping even
Ace of Spaces
. It's a ferocious album, for sure, perfectly showcasing
's trademark style of no holds barred proto-
thrash
-- a kind of
punk
-inflected
heavy metal
style that is sloppy and raw yet forceful and in your face.
, the band's self-titled debut from 1977, had been rush-recorded, and its stripped-down, super-raw sound wasn't all that impressive, at least not relative to what would follow.
is what followed, recorded in December 1978 and January 1979, and released not long thereafter. The band's sound is fully formed here, and it totally explodes right off the bat on the five-minute title track. A number of
standards follow, among them
"Stay Clean"
and
"No Class."
Produced by
Jimmy Miller
, who had helmed a number of classic
Rolling Stones
albums (
Beggars Banquet
,
Let It Bleed
Sticky Fingers
Exile on Main St.
Goats Head Soup
),
sounds wonderful, especially on the numerous remastered editions of this album. The band's classic lineup --
Lemmy
(bass and vocals),
"Fast" Eddie Clarke
(guitar), and
"Philthy Animal" Taylor
(drums) -- is well in place here, and they seem eager to rip loose wildly on every single song. This, in addition to the solid track listing and
Miller
's production, makes
a perfect
album. Several great ones would follow, of course, but
was the first of the great ones, and quite possibly the greatest of all. ~ Jason Birchmeier