Going through the mediabook of "Bomber", the few months' follower to "Overkill", had me learn a few past memories of after the release of "Bomber", by one of Lemmy's trusted friends, Simon Sessler. I thought to myself, how an artist be that doubtful of his own creation, especially when that release made a name for itself. Well, there was no turning back was there? "Bomber" hit the streets near the end of 1979, a closing for quite an energetic and hard working flow by the MOTORHEAD camp. When you think about it, was it perhaps a rush to put up another record in the same year, not taking a breather? However, since Lemmy was highly motivated, and extra energized to do more and not rest even for a bit, "Bomber" was conceived. Apparently, it turned out to be quite a safe gamble.

As the second part of their 40th Anniversary reissuing, it seemed quite natural to remaster the old "Bomber" legendary, along with unraveling details of its background and its pre-destructive and bloody festival grounds of Reading, which MOTORHEAD made a special appearance. BMG put out a second mediabook, containing the original album in its finest hour, along with one of the support shows for the "Bomber" tour near the end of 1979, in the French venue of La Rotunde, Le Mans as the second CD. All there is to it, is to put on the headphones, turn it up and embrace it.

"Bomber" naturally continues the effort of "Overkill", yet slowly seeing MOTORHEAD stepping into their Metal form, slightly grasping the qualities of NWOBHM such as the masterful catchy bastard "Poison", "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and ultra-catchy "Sharpshooter", which its main riff sounded to me like something out of BLACK SABBATH. Furthermore, there is a nice touch of the Blues meets Rock, sinking the teeth knee deep with a few slithery prospects that are undoubtedly drug induced, yet in a good way. To get a better idea check out "Sweet Revenge", "Step Down", with Fast Eddie singing. Even though with MOTORHEAD being Metal, Punk music is still in the service from within of the immensely growing band, serving it dirty, bad, yet heavily tidy as in "All The Aces", "Bomber", "Lawman" and "Stone Dead Forever".

Before I started listening to the live album, which accompanies the original album, I did some light reading of the second part of the booklet with the story of the "Bomber" artwork, made by Adrian Chesterman. The told tale is quite astonishing, an artwork that was made in four days in order to be able to release the album in time and well paid for the effort. The imagery on the artwork is one of the highest qualities of a Metal album ever, even when you compare it to the computer graphics of the present. Chesterman surly made himself an integral part of the success of "Bomber", other than its strong material.

Listening to the way MOTORHEAD destroyed Le Mans, in one of their many support shows of "Bomber", the only thing that itched me a bit was the fact that the quality of the recording, even after being worked on, was of less than the Friars show earlier that year. However, that show in France is of the highest values, portraying a strong setlist that magically marks the ounces of power that these guys had back in the day. Promoting two albums of the same year in the same set, along with earlier material, is no less of a challenge, as both albums as superior and it only drives the band to have it with the audience, meaning a long show. I just wish I could have been right there, banging my head silly in one of these "Bomber" shows.

So there you have it folks, the gruesome twosome, "Overkill" and "Bomber", which will return you to a year that made MOTORHEAD what they came to be, giant rockers that were Metal as it can be, and the funny thing, Lemmy never thought of them as Metal. Next year it will be the 40th anniversary of "Ace Of Spades" and I have the feeling that BMG wouldn't let it slide without something special.