This month in 1982, Lemmy Kilmister, “Fast” Eddie Clarke, and Phil “Philty Animal” Taylor were in London to record Motörhead’s fifth album, Iron Fist.
Released in April 1982, it was the final album of the classic Three Amigos lineup of Lemmy, Clarke, and Taylor. The album peaked at #6 on the UK album charts, while the single “Iron Fist” peaked in the UK singles chart at no. 29.
“The title song, with its huge riff and galloping pace, is a bona fide Motörhead mosh pit classic. Lemmy’s distorted bass punishes the woofer, and his portrayal of himself as a prophet of doom, a ‘beast of evil, devil’s hound’—delivered in his trademark whiskey-soaked rasp—is genuinely frightening. He’s the horseman before he loses his head, fiercer than anything Washington Irving could have imagined three and half centuries prior,” praised Classic Rock on the single “Iron Fist”.
AllMusic enthuses Iron Fist is “a fine Motörhead album, and there’s not much at all to complain here,” but concedes “Clarke’s production is a bit sterile” while lauding “several standout songs… amid strong selection overall.” Amazon.com calls the album “a twelve-fingered mutation of an album with a clutch of gem-studded tracks…”
The video here, Motörhead (Lemmy, Phil “Wizzö” Campbell, Mikkey Dee) performing “Iron Fist” in Dusseldorf, Germany, 2004.
Rest in Iron-Fist, Lemmy.
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Featured image via The Times.
