Motoerhead's short stay at
Epic Records (1991-1992) marked a particularly uninspired period in the band's long career.
Hellraiser collects seven songs from each of the albums it recorded (1991's
1916 and 1992's
March or Die) and adds two songs that were recorded at the time but not released:
"Dead Man's Hand" and one of the better songs here,
"Eagle Rock." Lemmy seemingly was searching for some kind of
mainstream rock success at this point. Both albums lack the fire of earlier
Motoerhead material and
March or Die shows a shocking lack of toughness.
"1916" provides the only highlight of the set,
"Ramones" is a fast and fun ode to the brothers
Ramone,
"Going to Brazil" is a 12-bar rocker about going to Brazil, oddly enough, and
"Angel City" is a boogified tribute to the Los Angeles
rock scene. Elsewhere the band was dipping into weak epic balladry with
"1916," bad
blues with
"You Better Run," lame generic
heavy metal with
"Hellraiser" and
"Asylum Street," boring covers with
"Cat Scratch Fever," and worst of all acoustic power ballads with
"I Ain't No Nice Guy" featuring
Ozzy and
Lemmy croaking their way through some really dumb lyrics. Unsurprisingly,
Motoerhead's attempt to sell out failed miserably and by the next record the band was off a major label and back to doing what it does best; making loud, fast, and obnoxious records. If you are a
Motoerhead fanatic, you probably have all the material on
Hellraiser already, but if you don't have it, don't get it as it is
Motoerhead at its worst. ~ Tim Sendra
