MOTÖRHEAD — Sacrifice (review)

MOTÖRHEAD — Sacrifice album cover Album · 1995 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Sacrifice" is the 13th full-length studio album by heavy rock/metal act Motörhead. The album was released through Steamhammer in July 1995. It´s the successor to "Bastards" from 1993, and features the same lineup who recorded the predecessor. Mikkey Dee (drums) was actually only credited as a "special guest" on "Bastards" though, so "Sacrifice" is as such his first release with Motörhead as a permanent member of the band. "Sacrifice" would be the last Motörhead album to feature guitarist Mick "Wurzel" Burston, who left the band shortly after the recording of album. According to the other members of the band, Burston seemed to have lost interest in Motörhead and was unsatisfied with the financial part of his agreement, and as a consequence he contributed very little to the recording of "Sacrifice".

Stylistically "Sacrifice" is a more raw, direct, and heavy album compared to the more diverse "Bastards (1993)". I´d say it´s probably the most heavy metal oriented album in their discography. Tracks like "Over Your Shoulder", "War for War", and the title track are really heavy songs, which occasionally even lean slightly towards thrash metal (...and remember I wrote slightly). Not a single one of the 11 tracks on the 36:44 minutes long album are ballads or power ballads or mellow in any way. They are all hard rockers and while there are certainly variation between the tracks "Sacrifice" is definitely a more one-dimensional affair than the two direct predecessors. There is one "different" sounding track on the album in "Make 'em Blind" (which is basically an improvised track), but that´s only a slight diversion in style.

Motörhead are as always a well playing band, and we´re as usual treated to Lemmy´s raw vocals and his distorted busy bass playing, the twin guitar attack from Campbell and Burston, and the incredibly skillful drumming by Dee. The latter is always a pleasure to listen to, but his performance here deserves a mention among his most outstanding ones. The sound production which is a bit more raw and heavy than the case was on the predecessor, is perfect for the music and that part of the album scores high in my book. So upon conclusion "Sacrifice" is a high quality release by Motörhead. It´s not their most spectactular nor their most diverse or memorable album, but it´s one of their most consistent in style and quality and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved. If you want to listen to Motörhead when they are most edgy and heavy metal oriented, this is the place to go in their discography.
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