In the late 70's / early 80's, Motorhead was one of the most established and consistent bands of the heavy metal genre, releasing several classic albums such as Overkill, Iron Fist, and the pivotal favorite Ace Of Spades. However, as the 80's faded into the 90's and alternative and grunge music proceeded to take over the metal scene, Motorhead seemed to be all but forgotten, though in this time period they put out some of the best albums of their career. Thankfully, when metal saw a resurgence in the 21st century, Motorhead was put back on the map with albums like Inferno and Motorizer, but ten years of their career seem to remain forgotten; None of the albums from that particular era had been reviewed on Metalreviews (Until now), and when you look at the Metal Archives, hardly anyone has bothered to cover great albums like Bastards or Overnight Sensation at all. It's a shame that 1995's Sacrifice was also unfortunately overlooked, as it is easily one of the loudest, heaviest, ballsiest albums of their long-winded career.

Motorhead, though undeniably metal at the core, also has a good classic rock / blues side to them that's always made the band's music stand far above and beyond its peers. And while the blues element is still entirely intact on Sacrifice (Just listen to Don't Waste Your Time), everything about the music - blues influence and all - is as heavy and dirty as Lemmy's signature sneering growl. The biggest reason for this is the production; it sounds like it'd fit in perfectly on a doom metal album, though it still works wonderfully well here. Production aside, the songwriting itself is just more visceral than anything the band has ever put out prior or since. The title track that kicks off the 37 - minute album has a very heavy and complex drumming line throughout that frequently switches to the traditional, snare-on-the-off-beat style that has made an appearance in several Motorhead classics. The chorus lags a bit, with Lemmy belting out strained, repetitive shouts of "Sacrifice!", but because of the sheer monstrous quality of the riffs and drumming, I consider this one of the best songs of Motorhead's career.

The rest of the songs on Sacrifice vary from being fun and catchy to exhibiting the heavier style that was showcased on the album opener; for the more fun tracks, listen to Sex And Death, with its instantly memorable power chord line (This song was literally written in ten hours on the last day of recording the album), or Out Of The Sun, which sports punchy drums and riffs along with a melodic chorus. And of course, there's the aforementioned Don't Waste Your Time, the bluesiest track on the album that incorporates piano, saxopone, and trumpet parts throughout. If you like the heavier tracks, however... just listen to most every other track on Sacrifice. One of my favorites is Order / Fade To Black, a song that alternates throughout between a sluggish, claustrophobic, doom-style riff to the more signature Motorhead style of songs like Overkill and Iron Fist. But whatever the track, Sacrifice never, ever loses that lingering sense of heaviness and doom. Some songs are better than others, of course, but the entire record is very consistent and a very entertaining listen all the way through. Sacrifice simply refuses to let up.

It wasn't until Sacrifice that I fully realized what magnitude of rock legends Master Kilmister & Co. really are; at this point in Motorhead's career, Lemmy was around fifty years old (He turns 64 on Christmas Eve!) and he'd been kicking ass and taking names for over fifteen years (Twenty five if you count the previous bands he's been in) without ever once stopping for a breather. And if a band can put out one of the most fantastic albums of its career at a point when it should be well past its prime and the metal genre is all but dead, and simulataneously kick the collective asses of 90% of all artists (metal or otherwise) releasing music at the time... wow. That, my friends, is a legendary band. LONG LIVE THE 'HEAD!!!

One little fun fact here that didn't really fit in the normal review: The song Dog-Face Boy was, against all commercial standards, featured briefly in the Disney movie Bolt. How a song from an album that has cover art featuring a beast with a penis for a tongue and a vagina for a throat with a field of corpses in the background ends up in a friggin' Disney movie, I don't know, but that's pretty awesome if you ask me.