Bad Magic

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Bad Magic
File:Motörhead - Bad Magic (2015).jpg
Studio album by Motörhead
Released 28 August 2015 (2015-08-28)
Recorded 2015
Studio NRG Studio, Hollywood, California
Maple Studios, Santa Ana, California
Grandmaster Studios
Genre Heavy metal, hard rock
Length 42:57
Label UDR GmbH
Producer Cameron Webb
Motörhead chronology
Aftershock
(2013)Aftershock2013
Bad Magic
(2015)
Clean Your Clock
(2016)Clean Your Clock2016
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 80%[1]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 3.5/5 stars[2]
Blabbermouth.net 8.5/10[3]
The Boston Globe favourable[4]
Consequence of Sound B[5]
The Guardian 4/5 stars[6]
Loudwire favourable[7]
Metal Storm 9.2/10[8]
Record Collector 3/4 stars[9]
AntiHero Magazine 9/10 stars[10]
RockRevolt Magazine 4/5 stars[11]

Bad Magic is the twenty second and final studio album by the band Motörhead released on 28 August 2015, and is the fifth release under the UDR GmbH / Motörhead Music collaboration of the previous five years.[12]

Due to the death of founder Lemmy Kilmister four months after the album's release, the band disbanded after 40 years on the road. Mikkey Dee stated to numerous media that's the end of the band.[13]

"When the Sky Comes Looking for You" was the only song from this album to be played live, to current knowledge.[14]

Background

The Roman numerals present on the cover translate as the number 40 and are the years Motörhead had been playing at the time of release and printing the album cover, which doesn't change upon Lemmy's death as he died the same year. The production of Motörheads albums over their last 15 years improved considerably, and this last album is no exception. The clarity of Lemmy's bass, considering he plays it like a guitar half the time, and has all the Mid-range up, is hard to reproduce on the average music system. Cameron Webb has done well with this, as the guitar of Philip and the drums of Mikkey also have a very clear sound, something that is hard to reproduce with the wall of sound that Motörhead basically pioneered over their 40 years of live gigging.

Bad Magic hasn't been written up as their best album ever, but it is yet another installment from the band with the iconic sound the three piece has maintained and mastered throughout the 21st century.

Recording

Bad Magic was written and recorded in L.A., and Cameron Webb again produced the album. In an interview Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee told the press that the recording process was different than previously:

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"..this time we were in a recording studio writing the album and all playing it together, actually. Before, we used to be in a rehearsal studio, write the songs and then we'd go in and record it one at a time, but here we kind of recorded it live, right away, as we had the song. We used to write very spontaneous, and this is probably even more spontaneous than any [previous] Motörhead [album]. But we really do enjoy the album. And it's a very live, very spontaneous record. I think that works best for us.." [15]

Later Lemmy said the whole album was not recorded live, but they:

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"..did about five tracks all together, so that much is true.." [16]

Release

Bad Magic received generally positive reviews from critics. Chad Bowar of Loudwire wrote that the songs on the album had a timeless sound, meaning that listeners wouldn't know if they were written during the year the album was released or in the early '80s.[17]

Ray Van Horn Jr from Blabbermouth.net, noted that with Bad Magic, given Lemmy's health problems:

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"..[their] on the verge of what might be [their] swan song...[Lemmy] exhibits the vocal wear and tear of a man whose long-beaten, gravelly pipes are betraying him due to a natural aging process.." [18]

However, he continues that:

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"..Lemmy is a freak of nature, and it's great to hear him ralph, croon and snarl with a give-a-damn will to live—you're a total piece of crap if you knock a guy who has given us his all for [over four] decades.." [19]

Sean Barry of Consequence of Sound points to the song, "Till the End", and writes that:

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"..here the frontman relates his story and woes in some rundown pub on the outskirts of town. It also finds Lemmy coming to terms with who he is, and despite all his flaws, pledging to continue living as he has through the remainder of his life. And while the 70 years of said hell-raising show in the way he slightly slurs his vocals, he’s just as virile and robust as he was on Overkill.." [20]

Barry ends the review writing:

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"..'Bad Magic' feels ancestral; you can feel it in your blood and in your bones. Even for those new to Motörhead, the album will have the power to recharge your love for all things rock ‘n’ roll. As a band that’s been around for generations, Motörhead isn’t just hanging around trying to keep themselves relevant. They’re partying until the sun goes out and celebrating their own immortality.." [21]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Kilmister, Campbell, Dee except where noted. 

CD
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Victory or Die"     3:09
2. "Thunder & Lightning"     3:06
3. "Fire Storm Hotel"     3:35
4. "Shoot Out All of Your Lights"     3:15
5. "The Devil"     2:54
6. "Electricity"     2:17
7. "Evil Eye"     2:20
8. "Teach Them How to Bleed"     3:13
9. "Till the End"     4:05
10. "Tell Me Who to Kill"     2:57
11. "Choking on Your Screams"     3:33
12. "When the Sky Comes Looking for You"     2:58
13. "Sympathy for the Devil" (The Rolling Stones cover) Mick Jagger and Keith Richards 5:35
Total length:
42:57

Personnel

Production

Kris Fredriksson on "The Devil" and Todd Campbell on "Victory or Die" and "Evil Eye"

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[22] 29
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[23] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[24] 9
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[25] 12
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[26] 10
Croatian Foreign Albums (HDU)[27] 2
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[28] 4
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[29] 7
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[30] 1
French Albums (SNEP)[31] 16
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] 1
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[33] 13
Irish Albums (IRMA)[34] 43
Italian Albums (FIMI)[35] 12
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[36] 67
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[37] 25
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[38] 7
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[39] 32
Scottish Albums (OCC)[40] 8
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[41] 4
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[42] 2
UK Albums (OCC)[43] 10
UK Digital Albums (OCC)[44] 28
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[45] 1
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[46] 1
US Billboard 200[47] 35
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[48] 3
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[49] 2
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[50] 5
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[51] 5
  • Regarding French sales, the SNEP gives Bad Magic's highest position as 14.[52]

References

  1. Bad Magic at Metacritic
  2. Deming, Mark. XXXX: Bad Magic - Motörhead at AllMusic
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  26. "Motorhead – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Motorhead.
  27. "Top Stranih [Top Foreign]" (in Croatian). Top Foreign Albums. Hrvatska diskografska udruga.
  28. "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201536 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data.
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  30. "Motörhead: Bad Magic" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
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  33. "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2015. 35. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ.
  34. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 36, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA.
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  39. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry.
  40. September 2015 "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
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  43. "Motorhead | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  44. September 2015 "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  45. September 2015 "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company.
  46. September 2015/112/ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  47. "Motorhead – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Motorhead.
  48. "Motorhead – Chart history" Billboard Independent Albums for Motorhead.
  49. "Motorhead – Chart history" Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums for Motorhead.
  50. "Motorhead – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for Motorhead.
  51. "Motorhead – Chart history" Billboard Top Tastemaker Albums for Motorhead.
  52. [1]

External links