UMUR "Orgasmatron" is the 7th full-length studio album by UK hard/heavy rock act Motörhead. The album was released through GWR Records August 1986. It´s the follow up to "Another Perfect Day", which was released in June 1983, which at the time, was the longest recording break Motörhead had had. Quite a few lineup changes had occured though, and Lemmy needed time to get the band going again. Guitarist Brian "Robbo" Robertson (Thin Lizzy), who performed on "Another Perfect Day (1983)" was always meant to be a temporary solution, and he is replaced here by Phil Campbell and Würzel, making "Orgasmatron" the first Motörhead album to feature two guitarists. Longstanding Motörhead drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor temporarily left Motörhead during this period and is replaced here by Pete Gill. Taylor would be back behind the kit on "Rock 'n' Roll (1987)".

"Another Perfect Day (1983)" was a bit of an anomaly in Motörhead´s dicography (which doesn´t necessarily mean it´s a bad album), mainly because of Brian Robertson´s guitar style, and it was not a commercial success for the band, so "Orgasmatron" is naturally a bit harder edged and heavy, as if Lemmy wanted to prove a point. It´s details though and the music on the album is still unmistakably the sound of Motörhead just as the case was on "Another Perfect Day (1983)". Tracks like "Deaf Forever" and the title track are however among the most metal oriented and heavy tracks in the band´s discography. At it´s roots the music is still amplified badass blues based rock´n´roll with Lemmy´s distinct sounding raw voice in front. In addition to the two tracks mentioned above, which are some of the highlights on the album, you could pick just about any track off the album and it would be a standout track. In that regard "Orgasmatron" is a very consistent release.

The material on the 9 track, 35:34 minutes long album is generally both well written and catchy, but also relatively varied, which makes "Orgasmatron" one of the stronger Motörhead albums when it comes to memorability. The album is relatively well produced although it features some of the 80s reverb abuse, which was popular at the time, and which makes the production sound slightly dated. It´s still raw and powerful though, which suits the music perfectly.

"Orgasmatron" ended up being a commercial comeback for Motörhead, and the album charted much better than "Another Perfect Day (1983)" did. To my ears the two albums are pretty equal in quality, but "Orgasmatron" is probably the more popular album because it´s harder edged and more raw sounding than it´s predecessor. It´s overall another high quality release by Motörhead deserving a 4 star (80%) rating.

Warthur The idea of Motörhead taking on the services of Bill Laswell of Material fame as a producer was always a bit of an odd one, and Lemmy seems to have regretted it, griping in his autobiography that he doesn't like the mix on the album. I can certainly see where he's coming from; the sound of the album is interesting, but ultimately saps the material of some of the power and punch that you really look for in a Motörhead album.

What saves Orgasmatron is the quality of the songs involved, which rise above the muddled mix to represent the strongest set of new material the band had released since Ace of Spades. At its best moments, the production lends the songs a slightly futuristic vibe, and the fact that no Motörhead album before or after quite sounded like it does at least make it a novelty in a back catalogue replete with a certain degree of self-plagiarism.

The story of adversity surrounding Orgasmatron doesn't stop there - aside from the production issues, the band literally had to start their own record label in order to get this out. This came about after Motörhead had won their court case against Bronze Records, who they'd accused of botching the promotion of their material. Having lost the case, Bronze collapsed due to the financial load, and perhaps record labels were scared of that happening to them if they got into a future dispute with the band - or maybe people weren't sure that Motörhead were still a viable act, due to Iron Fist and Another Perfect Day not quite winning the acclaim of Ace of Spades and the band having been unable to put out another studio album due to their legal dispute with Bronze.

That would be foolish of them, of course - Orgasmatron proves that Motörhead in 1986 could still sound credible and potent next to any of the thrash upstarts of the era. And perhaps being forced to hold back their material for a few years allowed Motörhead to bring a really well-honed set to the table, picking the cream of the crop from the material they'd been working on and resulting in an all-killer no-filler release. Either way, Orgasmatron may not be a classic based on its own merits, but it's still a damn good album which combines great music with a really important position in the band's history.