Motörhead – Bomber (Deluxe Edition)

Motörhead's Bomber arrived in 1979 as the band's third album, and remarkably their second full-length of that same year after Overkill. That pace helps explain the record's wired, no-frills intensity: this is Motörhead pushing hard on the lineup that defined their early run, with Lemmy, "Fast" Eddie Clarke and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor locking into the fast, abrasive attack that helped set the template for British heavy metal at the turn of the decade.

The album reached No. 12 on the UK chart and delivered several of the band's best-known songs, including "Bomber," "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and "Stone Dead Forever." Source material consistently places it among the key records of Motörhead's classic period, and the title track even gave them a UK Top 40 single. If Overkill was the breakthrough, Bomber feels like the sound of a band refusing to ease off, sharpening its speed and attitude rather than polishing either one away.

There's also a useful studio detail behind the noise: Bomber was produced by Jimmy Miller, whose earlier work with the Rolling Stones brought a tough, heavy sense of momentum to the sessions. The result is an album that balances raw force with memorable riffs, especially on the title track, and shows why this 1979 run remains so central to Motörhead's reputation.

Reviews

• Bomber is still a top-shelf Motörhead album, one of their all-time best, without question. - AllMusic.com