Inferno (Motörhead album)

Inferno
Studio album by Motörhead
Released	22 June 2004 (2004-06-22)
Studio	(see Studio)
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	50:58
Label	SPV
Producer	Cameron Webb
Motörhead chronology
Live at Brixton Academy (2003) Inferno (2004) BBC Live & In-Session (2005)

Inferno is the seventeenth album by English rock band Motörhead. Released on 22 June 2004. Guitarist Steve Vai plays on "Terminal Show" and "Down on Me". "In the Black" was featured in the video game Brütal Legend.

History

Inferno was Motörhead's first album with Cameron Webb producing. Webb told Joel McIver of Classic Rock Presents Motörhead in 2010 that he had wanted to make an album with the band for years and met them for dinner at the Sunset Marquee to discuss the possibility of working together: "I talked about how I wanted to make a really heavy record with them. That was a mistake, because Lemmy likes to play rock 'n' roll — he doesn't like to play heavy music — and he called me on it." Nonetheless, the band and Webb decided to collaborate and eventually produced Motorhead's heaviest album in years. In an interview for the bonus Inferno DVD, drummer Mikkey Dee states that Webb "pushed us a little more. He wasn't intimidated by our rock star moods." Vocalist and bassist "Lemmy" Kilmister adds: "That was a great thing, 'cause Mickey can be really intimidating and so can I, and Phil [Campbell] can be really violent." The band also admitted that they made Inferno the same way as all their other albums — at the last minute — by renting a big rehearsal room in Los Angeles and writing songs for about six weeks and, after a week break, recording them while they're still fresh.

The final song on the album, "Whorehouse Blues," was somewhat of a departure for the band in terms of influence. It was described as a country blues style song, and was distinguished by the playing of acoustic guitar by all three band members, with Lemmy also taking up harmonica towards the end. Mikkey Dee explained his role change from drums to guitar by saying "I've been playing guitar all my life a little bit, because guitars have always been around, so it's nothing spectacular in my eyes." He also stated that "it's quite fun to walk onstage and do that song. And we definitely surprised the audiences..."^[1] Filming of the video was due to take place in a Stringfellow's club, but Peter Stringfellow objected to the song title and the associations it brought with it, and withdrew any involvement. With twenty-four hours left until the shoot, they found a club in Ealing.^[2]

Sleeve artwork

Joe Petagno, long-time sleeve artist for the band, offered these comments on the concept behind the album cover this time round:

When I first decided to do the Inferno cover, I had the idea it should be Mars, the god of war. But I wanted to take the original three chrome heads I had created two years earlier and show it in the process of being formed at the foundry. Being poured, the molten metal, which goes through down the centre of the picture. It also formed the sword in the new logo. It's also an axis mundi, the centre of the world, which holds the whole Mars planet together. It's a circle, Mars is almost exploding. There are these soldiers coming in from the sides, which is very much like Iraq or any other hotspots in the world. At the same time as this Mars exploration shit was going on on TV... Great. Millions of people are dying, there's water on Mars, I'm so fucking happy. It came about because I was irritated about "Can't we just figure it out?"... all the hypocrisy yet again, all the bloodshed, all the stupidity... it's in that cover. It was kind of a comeback to the Overkill and taking a second shot at it, really.^[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Rolling Stone	[5]
Terrorizer	9/10[6]

Guy Strachan praised the album in Terrorizer as "the best album that Motorhead have ever recorded."^[6] However, James Monger chided the band for "churning out the same record over and over again" in Allmusic.^[4] In 2011 Motorhead biographer Joel McIver wrote, "Inferno was a blast from start to finish. Its bottom-heavy, modern sound suited the songs perfectly; it was almost as if, without realizing it, Motörhead had stamped their identity on the album more honestly than on any other album for at least a decade." Lee Marlowe of Classic Rock stated in 2013 that "Killers" "is as catchy as anything in the band's vast catalogue: a strident stand-out on one of the strongest albums they've done" while "Whorehouse Blues" "makes perfect sense."

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Motörhead. 

Credits

Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.^[7]

Personnel

Motörhead

• "Lemmy" Kilmister – bass, vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica on "Whorehouse Blues"
• Philip Campbell – guitar, backing vocals, acoustic guitar on "Whorehouse Blues"
• Mikkey Dee – drums, acoustic guitar on "Whorehouse Blues"

Additional musicians

• Steve Vai – lead guitar on "Terminal Show", guitar solo on "Down on Me"
• Curtis Mathewson – strings on "Keys to the Kingdom"

Production

• Cameron Webb – production, engineering, mixing
• Sergio Chavez – additional/assistant engineering
• Bob Koszela – additional engineering
• Chris Rakestraw – additional engineering
• Corey Gash – assistant engineering
• George Gumbs – assistant engineering
• Kevin Bartley – mastering

Artwork and design

• Steffan Chirazi – creative direction
• Mark Abramson – art direction, design
• "Lemmy" Kilmister – sketch art, handwritten lyrics
• Robert John – photography
• Shawn Bathe – photography

Studios

• NRG Recording Studios, Los Angeles, CA, USA – recording
• Paramount – recording
• Maple Studios – recording
• Capitol Records – mastering

Charts

References

External links

• Inferno at AllMusic