Celebrating Heavy Metal Legacy Appropriately - A Review of Motörhead's Bad Magic - Seriously Bad Magic

Motörhead has been a highly influential blues rock, hard rock and heavy metal band that has existed for exactly forty years. After its conclusion, numerous reissues, compilations and boxed sets have been thrown onto the market that aren't even worth to be talked about. A very positive exception however is the reissue of the trio's final studio album under the Black Magic - Seriously Bad Magic title.

This release is a worthy addition to the collections of die-hard fans, occasional listeners and even potential newcomers for several reasons. First of all, the initial release was already very strong. Thunderous heavy metal anthem ''Fire Storm Hotel'', gloomy heavy metal stomper ''Choking on Your Screams'' and fittingly sinister abgesang ''When the Sky Comes Looking for You'' have all stood the test of time. A true hidden gem is Motörhead's rendition of The Rolling Stones' ''Sympathy for the Devil'' that sounds quite convincing out of Lemmy's mouth and has a vibrant swagger that increases intriguingly with every minute. At the end of the day, we have one of Motörhead's better studio albums in the band's long career.

The second reason to get this particular reissue are its three bonus studio tracks. Motörhead covered David Bowie's ''Heroes'' with its usual swagger and really managed to make the song sound like one of its own. The song's timeless lyrics haven't lost their unique charme either. This might be one of Motörhead's very best cover songs ever recorded. ''Bullet in Your Brain'' is an energetic, fast and tight heavy metal anthem that certainly deserves some attention and easily beats several tunes on the original album version. My personal highlight is however ''Greedy Bastards'' with its creative spoken word opening and timeless criticism of businessmen and politicians who believe that they can do whatever they like. Lemmy wouldn't accept such an attitude however and has kept speaking out against the high and mighty throughout his career. Hearing him doing it again from the grave sends any fan shivers down the spine. This song certainly is one of the best in Motörhead's later career.

Thirdly and lastly, this reissue includes a complete live album, recorded at the 2015 edition of Mount Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. This disc is appropriately entitled Sayonara Folks! even though Lemmy didn't expect to die anytime soon back then and even told the fans that he would see them again. While the group's last regular live record Clean Your Clock showcases a particularly weak bassist and singer, this concert here already showcases some of Lemmy's struggles but still has decent energy, pace and passion. Especially the chemistry between bassist and singer Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee is quite impressive. Lemmy has some shining highlights in form of bass guitar solos, dynamic crowd interaction and rough vocals but he is also given some important breaks by passionate guitar solos and technically stunning drum solos. Despite a few minor lengths in the instrumental sections of the longer tunes, this concert overall sounds dynamic, entertaining and passionate. The fact that the sound is subpar and probably comes from a soundboard might be an issue for other bands but fits perfectly for a raw heavy metal outfit like Motörhead as it even adds to the trio's gritty spirit.

As you can read, this wonderful reissue of Motörhead's final studio album is worth the attention of anyone who appreciates heavy metal. The original album is very good, the three bonus songs are unexpected highlights and the additional concert represents Motörhead's timeless spirit at its very best. Make sure to pick this wonderful reissue up and honour this legendary's band legacy appropriately.

Final Rating: 90%