This is a welcome return to old school 'Motörhead' after the more commercial '1916' and 'March or Die' and wow is this an uncompromising release. Originally I believe this was only released in Germany and as such was quite hard to find and gained 'Bastards' a bit of cult status. It's now distributed under licence by 'Steamhammer' though, so Metalheads can easily lay their hands on this overlooked gem. Continuing as a four piece, 'Motörhead' demolish their way through twelve surprising well crafted tracks.

Two short rapid fire blazers kick the album off, 'On your Feet or on your Knees', is a top grooving rocker with sweet rhythm work that is both skilful and engaging, while the furious 'Burner' is a driving thrasher that exhibits a thundering guitar solo. The roaring pace remains with the bristling 'Death or Glory', an excellently written track that again shows 'Lemmy's' understated penmanship on this top warfare inspired thumper. More fine work is exhibited on the excellent 'I am the Sword', from the outset a mean grooving rhythm is laid down and doesn't let up throughout, the lyrics are again strong and overall makes for one of the top tracks. Traditional early 'Motörhead' can be heard on 'Born to Raise Hell', here we see their 'Rock & Roll' roots combining with a sprinkling of 'Punk' influence, for a great mid tempo rocker. The album takes a directional change with the balladsy 'Don't let Daddy Kiss Me', a song which tackles the issue of child abuse, while it's a wonderfully written track, it's not the sort of thing I want to sit back and listen to. The punishing rhythm is again reinstated with the tough groover 'Bad Woman', a free flowing ride into one of 'Motörhead's' favourite subjects, checkout the top guitar solo to boot. Plenty of distortion is felt on the dark plodder 'Liar,' while 'Lost in the Ozone' highlights a slower pace, more thoughtful lyrics and some fine almost acoustic guitar work. Other strong cuts include the abrasive rocker 'I'm the Man' and the carefree stable 'We bring the Shake'. The album closes with 'Devils', a 'Lemmy' crafted jewel, that brilliantly combines some dark brooding rhythm work with uplifting and quite graceful guitaring to create a magnificent backdrop, the vocal work is on top form and does the quality lyrics justice, an overlooked classic.

The 'Steamhammer' re-release features a bonus track in the shape of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash', a cover of the 'Stones' classic, a fair effort, but personally I'll stick to 'Mick' and 'Keith's' version. If you are a 'Motörhead' fan and don't own this it's well worth checking out as its definitely one of their best, particularly of the later stuff.