Motörhead - Orgasmatron (40th Anniversary) [Violet]

Orgasmatron turns 40 with this anniversary edition of Motörhead's 1986 album, pressed on violet vinyl and presenting the original studio record.

It came out of a period of upheaval. Lemmy had expanded the band into a four-piece with two guitarists, Phil Campbell and Würzel, plus Pete Gill on drums, making this the only full Motörhead studio album with Gill behind the kit. It was also their first record for GWR, cut in just eleven days at Master Rock Studios in London with Bill Laswell producing alongside engineer Jason Corsaro.

The working title was Ridin' With the Driver, and when the name changed late in the process, Joe Petagno's monstrous train artwork was already locked in and stayed put.

Deaf Forever, the album's only single, opens the record with a pounding, martial stomp, and Mean Machine roars along at the band's familiar breakneck pace. The closing title track is something else entirely: a slow, crushing grind with Lemmy intoning a bleak sermon aimed at organised religion, politics and war, his voice sounding like it was carved from gravel and spite.

Heavier and more ominous than much of what came before, Orgasmatron still hits like a freight train, which seems only fitting given the sleeve, and this violet pressing makes a striking way to mark four decades of it.