Nobody is enjoying SAXON’s recent resurgence more than frontman Biff Byford, who remains an awesome showman, leading his troops into battle, storming through metal anthems like ‘Never Surrender’ and ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’. The bone-crunching ‘Wichfinder General’ gave a taster of what SAXON have been up to in recent years, and the excellent ‘Hellcats’ was one of two preview tracks played from the forthcoming ‘Into The Labyrinth’ album, due for release in January. ‘747 (Strangers in the Night)’ was preferred to ‘Wheels of Steel’ as the set closer, and in 50 minutes, SAXON had delivered a firm reminder of their tremendous metal credentials.

Without fail, every year MOTÖRHEAD tour the UK, and every year, hoardes of fans go and see them for the umpteenth time. Why? Well, Lemmy just never fails to deliver. MOTÖRHEAD are a well oiled live machine, and their raw, heavy brand of rock’n’ roll, just does the business. From the opening bass riff of ‘Iron Fist’, to the frenetic thrashfest ‘Overkill’ - MOTÖRHEAD were fantastic. Despite all the years of rock excesses, and Jack Daniels on cornflakes every morning, Lemmy manages to plod on regardless. His vocals seem to be slightly rougher as each year goes by, but who the hell listens to MOTÖRHEAD to hear great singing? This is a band you listen to in order to lose control and forget about your stresses…just bang your head and rock!

New song ‘Rock Out’ was a real standout, as was ‘Metropolis’ and a typical cynical delivery of ‘Just ‘Cos You Got The Power’. There’s not a lot you can say about MOTÖRHEAD, but they are certainly just as loud and raucous as they ever have been, and while that remains the case, people like me will just keep on going to see them, even if it does mean a good dose of tinnitus for the next week. Long live rock’n'roll!

SAXON Rating: 4.5/5.0

Photography by Alexander Shaw (click here)

MOTÖRHEAD's most recent releases, 'Inferno' and 'Kiss of Death' were both highly impressive and well received by their hordes of fans. 'Motörizer' maintains these high standards and is certainly one of the band's better releases since the classic 'Ace of Spades' album.

The musicianship of the trio is as strong as ever. Phil Campbell again impresses with plenty of solo work, some great fills and no-end of down and dirty riffs (just check out the riff to chorus of 'Teach You How to Sing the Blues'). The best riffs of the album appear on the excellent 'One Short Life'. Mickey Dee again puts in a thunderous performance on drums, and Lemmy is his usual self, snorting his clever old lyrics, and he continues to chug along with that powerful Rickenbacker bass.

Once again, Lemmy shows off his love for punk heroes THE RAMONES, with their influence perhaps best displayed in album opener 'Runaround Man'. 'Rock Out' is about the closest MOTÖRHEAD get to approaching the boundaries of commercial territory and this one would work great as a future live set opener. Do lyrics get any more boisterous then 'rock out, with your cock out'!? Another notable moment is the blues rocker 'English Rose' – which re-vists the mood of 'Christine' from 'Kiss of Death'.

Groundbreaking it is not. Loud, heavy, obnoxious and filthy – damn right it sure is! 'Motörizer' is yet another slab of MOTÖRHEAD doing what they do best. Fans of the band will not be disappointed.

Rating 4.0/5.0

James Allman

Release Date: 1st September 2008