| Motörizer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 26 August 2008 (2008-08-26) | |||
| Recorded | Late 2007 – early 2008 | |||
| Studio | Studio 606 and Sage & Sound | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 38:55 | |||
| Label | SPV/Steamhammer | |||
| Producer | Cameron Webb | |||
| Motörhead chronology | ||||
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Motörizer is the nineteenth studio album by Britishrock bandMotörhead. It was released on 26 August 2008, their eleventh and last on theSteamhammer label.
Recording took place at end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. As with all their albums since 2004'sInferno, it was produced, mixed and engineered by Cameron Webb.
Lemmy appeared onBBC 6 Music's radio programme,Bruce Dickinson'sFriday Rock Show[1] on 11 July 2008, to promote the album, playing the track "Runaround Man", which he described as:
"nonsense set to an infectious beat."
He also played "Rock Out" and "The Thousand Names of God", about which he said:
"It's completely extraneous, the title... It's about soldiers being conned into going into battle, for like, business men. It isn't even a cause anymore."
The band's lead single "Rock Out" was featured as the official theme song toWWE Unforgiven, and was used in the filmsHesher andNitro Circus: The Movie.
The album cover was revealed on the front page of the group's officialwebsite on 11 June 2008.[2] Notable for being the band's first album sinceOvernight Sensation (1996) without the artwork of long-time collaboratorJoe Petagno, the cover artwork is by Mark De Vito and features a Motörhead-themedcoat of arms, with the shieldquartered for each band member: theRoyal Arms of England forLemmy in the top left corner: theDraig Goch ofWales forPhil Campbell in the bottom right corner, theTre Kronor ofSweden forMikkey Dee in the bottom left corner, andSnaggletooth (the band's mascot) for the band as a whole.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 63%[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [4] |
| Metal Hammer | |
| Pitchfork Media | (7.2/10)[5] |
| PopMatters | [6] |
| World of Music | [7] |
| Blabbermouth | 8/10[8] |
| The Guardian | [9] |
The album was met with mostly positive reviews on release. Alex Henderson ofAllmusic gave the album a positive review, saying that "the classic Motörhead sound prevails, and forceful, in-your-face tracks such as "Buried Alive", "Runaround Man", "When the Eagle Screams", and "Time Is Right" sound like they could have been recorded 25 years earlier. Motorizer never pretends to be groundbreaking, but if the material is predictable, it is engagingly predictable." Cosmo Lee of Pitchfork Media gave a positive review, saying that it was an improvements over recent Motorhead albums and that: "Motörizer avoids the bland hard rock that larded up some of the band's recent records. Instead, its 11 tracks efficiently clock in at under 39 minutes. Lemmy turns 63 this year, but he still sounds half his age."
The album reached number 32 on theUK Albums Chart, making it the band's highest-charting album in the UK since1916 in 1991.[10] The album debuted onBillboard chart at No. 82.[11] It peaked at No. 2 on the UK Rock & Metal chart, and at No. 5 on the German 'Offizielle Top 100' & US Independent charts. As with the band's last few albums, it did not make a massive impact on the general public, but saw dedicated sales in markets where they had a strong following. "We've never had a hit in America", remarked Lemmy. "We actually got in the top 100 this time… Number 89 [sic] and straight out again, but it's a start."[12]
All tracks are written by Kilmister, Campbell, Dee.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Runaround Man" | 2:57 |
| 2. | "Teach You How to Sing the Blues" | 3:03 |
| 3. | "When the Eagle Screams" | 3:44 |
| 4. | "Rock Out" | 2:08 |
| 5. | "One Short Life" | 4:05 |
| 6. | "Buried Alive" | 3:12 |
| 7. | "English Rose" | 3:34 |
| 8. | "Back on the Chain" | 3:24 |
| 9. | "Heroes" | 4:59 |
| 10. | "Time Is Right" | 3:14 |
| 11. | "The Thousand Names of God" | 4:33 |
| Total length: | 38:55 | |
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13] | 13 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[14] | 55 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[15] | 70 |
| Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[16] | 20 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] | 58 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] | 9 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[19] | 24 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] | 5 |
| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[21] | 16 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[22] | 47 |
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| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] | 11 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[24] | 43 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[25] | 10 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] | 11 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[27] | 32 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[28] | 2 |
| USBillboard 200[11] | 82 |
| USTop Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[29] | 11 |
| USIndependent Albums (Billboard)[30] | 5 |
| US Indie Store Album Sales (Billboard)[31] | 14 |
| Country | Date |
|---|---|
| North America | 26 August 2008 |
| Germany | 29 August 2008 |
| Europe | 1 September 2008 |
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| EPs | |
| Live albums | |
| Compilations | |
| Singles | |
| Box sets | |
| Videos | |
| Tours | |
| Miscellaneous | |
