Review by Felix on December 28, 2023.

There are two things I've always wondered about with this album. Firstly, that Motörhead voluntarily made themselves smaller than they were with the cover version of "God Save the Queen". I mean, punk can't compete with metal and the one-album-wonder Sex Pistols was truly beneath Lemmy's legend. But even stranger, secondly, that he hit the notes in the balladic "One More F**king Time" with his eternally out-of-order voice. It sounds weird, creaky, but not wrong.

However, both songs do not belong to the highlights of We Are Motörhead. They are okay, although the cover sounds a bit powerless, but there are definitely better tracks to discover here. To go still one more step further, from my point of view the output is one of the most underrated items in the history of the band. Why? It offers a dark undertone, it shows a broad portfolio (only for a Motörhead album, of course), it comes without any fillers or just a single gram of fat (after 38:29 minutes everything is said and done) and it spreads some energetic, almost juvenile vibrations. Finally and last but not least, the album houses the best rip-off in Lemmy’s discography. The title track sounds like “Ace of Spades 2.0” with its bass guitar licks, the fiery riffing of the guitar and the catchy chorus. This song is among the best the band has written in this period and able to take a banger party from zero to one hundred in seconds. Furthermore, it closes the cycle, because the opener “See Me Burning” follows the same approach. It marks a fast, straight and compact beginning. This entry made it clear immediately: the Snaggletooth can still hurt.

Motörhead also put two exclamation marks in the middle of the album. “Out to Lunch” is definitely not spectacular, but it shines with a good momentum and a natural drive. “Wake the Dead” draws its dynamics from tempo changes and the interplay of quiet and loud segments. Moreover, it conveys the sinister core of metal successfully. In other words: if you do not like songs like this one, you are wasting your time when visiting sides like the one you are visiting right now. Anyway, I may not forget to say that the remaining songs are okay and the heavily stomping “Slow Dance” is the best among them.

“We Are Motörhead” does not possess the same level of combative energy as its successor and an ultimate neckbreaker like “Brave New World” cannot be found here. It is also true that the production could be ten percent more aggressive. I don’t say that the material suffers from an overly polished mix, but it is also not filled to the max with edges and corners. Anyway, it spreads this typical charm of hobby philosopher Lemmy (R.I.P.) who died exactly eight years ago. Lyrics like “You look like the ghost of Cinderella” or “We are the future, baby, used to be the past” just make me grin. The beauty of it is that it is so authentic. It's the same quirky, cryptic humour as when Lemmy said in an interview with the German Rock Hard that "people are missing something if they can't draw a swastika somewhere". And so the album guarantees good friendly Motörhead fun, to say it almost with Gary Holt. Hopefully Lemmy also has a lot of (dirty) pleasure, wherever he is dwelling right now. I at least had a good time writing this review, my 2,000th for M-A.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10