SilentScream213 For the year 1979, Overkill was a powerhouse of speed and weight that opens with perhaps the heaviest song written in that moment in time. Pounding constant double bass leaves a fantastic first impression, and surely set the standard for many songs to come. Unfortunately, the majority of the album is more mid-paced, standard heavy metal, and lacks the riffs or melody found in their contemporaries to carry it.

Lemmy has a rather unmistakable, hoarse voice, and the band has always carried an "old fashioned rock and roll" vibe with them that makes them their own brand of metal. The problem is, aside from this Motorhead-ness, the album doesn't offer much.

When Motorhead go full throttle, they rock, but elsewhere, they fall into mediocrity.

Warthur The legend about Lemmy is that he started playing bass by mistake - Hawkwind needed someone to play quick, he happened to be a roadie for them, they handed him a bass guitar and he started playing it like a lead guitar. Whether that's true or not, Lemmy developed a then-unique "lead bassist" style whilst in Hawkwind and based the Motorhead sound around that, plus a fat dose of speed metal aggression, and a punk rocker's appetite for good old-fashioned rock and roll.

Overkill is the album where the pieces of that formula really came together to create the classic Motorhead mode we know and love today. The title track is a bass apocalypse which is still a centrepiece of the band's live performances to this day, and closing track Limb From Limb is - when you look past the heaviness - a very traditional rock and roll number performed in an incredibly confident way. Between the two is a range of songs which begin to show the full power this trio are capable of.

Several songs are particularly notable - Capricorn and Metropolis are the two slower numbers on the album, Metropolis particularly effectively catching an oppressive and doomly atmosphere, whilst I'll Be Your Sister is an extremely odd love song rendered all the more unusual because, hey, it's Lemmy singing it. (Lemmy's famous gravelly tones are beginning to take shape here, sounding mliles away from the clean and inoffensive vocals he lent to Hawkwind tracks such as Silver Machine.)

Overall, the album's running length might not be up to much - a nose over 35 minutes unless you count bonus tracks (and I don't) - but typically of Motorhead it's 35 minutes of all (over)killer and no filler.

UMUR Overkill is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK hard rock/ metal act Motörhead. The album was released in March 1979 by Bronze. Motörhead had made an impact with their self-titled debut album which was released in September 1977 but that was nothing against the waves created by Overkill. Overkill is the album that really put Motörhead on the map.

The combination of filthy bluesy rock´n´roll, punky rythms and hard rock´n´heavy metal that has been Motörhead´s trademark right from the start of their career, works like a charm on Overkill. The songwriting is top notch and actually pretty varied within the confines of the band´s style and the musicianship is intense. The hunger to succeed is audible to say the least. The band possess a fierce badass attitude which is also more than obvious when listening to the wild and intense performances of the songs. Now I often talk about bands giving their all, spitting and sweating blood and how much attitude means to music. Well look no further, this is the real deal. Pure undiluted and authentic to the max, Motörhead are going to kick your ass.

Out of the 10 tracks on the 34:25 minute long album, at least 5 or 6 tracks can be considered "classic" Motörhead songs. Songs that they have played again and again on stage and still do to this day. I´ll mention the opening title track, Stay Clean, Capricorn, No Class, Damage Case and Metropolis as sure "classics" in the band´s repetoire but the rest of the songs are also high class compositions. Most songs are pretty straight forward and simple structured vers/ chorus based, but how they swing and what energy on display. It´s impossible to sit still while listening to Overkill. When listening to the album I tend to find myself either headbanging like a madman or playing air guitar like a lunatic. That´s what this album does to me. I just can´t control myself. There are a few things out of the ordinary on the album like the double bass drums in the title track and the ending to that song with its extended soloing and also the bass solo in Stay Clean shows that Motörhead had more tricks up their sleeve than the average hard rock/ metal act. Songs like Capricorn and Metropolis are also great for the variation on the album. The latter has an almost epic atmosphere to it.

The production is filthy and raw. The sound suits the music perfectly.

Overkill is THE Motörhead album for my money, and when people who are new to Motörhead ask where to start listening, I always point towards Overkill as the best starting place. The album is filled to the brim with memorable songs and intense playing. Add to that the badass attitude of the band and there´s your explosive cocktail. Overkill is a seminal and extremely influential heavy rock/ metal album from the seventies and just about the epitome of Motörhead´s sound and therefore a 5 star rating is fully deserved.

1967/ 1976 Lemmy, Philty "Animal" Taylor and "Fast" Eddie Clarke... A band named "Motorhead" and an album named "OverKill"! And the story of R'n'R is written with another 24 charat masterpiece! What, then, is an explosive mix of Punk and Hard Rock ... Who cares!

This albun contains: "OverKill", "Stay Clean", "Capricorn", "No Class" and "Metropolis", all Heavy Metal evergreen, characterized, like all the songs on the album, from hypnotic riffs, repeated ad nauseum. The sound is dominated by twins guitar/ bass and by the natural growl of Lemmy's voice. "Animal" Taylor is a great drummer, powerful and very bynamic. So all the songs of "OverKill" are classics. Interesting is also the fact that, if the music is Punk Metal, at the end, the riffs are very technical, fact that is not in association with Punk. As the same time the songs are very engaging. You would like to break out into a frenzied dance that never has to stop. Is this magic that makes winning "Overkill" even more of songs, aged too well.

IMHO this is "OverKill", a great album, an evergreen of R'n'R, a must (and cult) album for every music lover!