Under Cöver

Motörhead’s Under Cöver is a posthumous covers compilation released September 1, 2017, through Silver Lining Music and Motörhead Music. Its 11 tracks bring together recordings spanning more than two decades, drawing from studio albums, tribute projects, and previously unreleased material rather than a single dedicated session. Judas Priest, the Sex Pistols, the Rolling Stones, Rainbow, and the Ramones all appear among its sources, connecting the band’s heavy-metal reputation to its broader rock ’n’ roll and punk foundations. Its defining quality is identity: Lemmy’s gravelly voice and distorted bass give these borrowed songs a recognizable center, making the collection less an exercise in imitation than a demonstration of how readily Motörhead could absorb other artists’ music into their own sound.

“Breaking the Law” and “God Save the Queen” establish the album’s hard-driving character before David Bowie’s “Heroes” introduces its most affecting contrast. Recorded during the 2015 Bad Magic sessions and previously unreleased, it became one of the band’s final recordings before Lemmy’s death, giving its defiant romanticism an additional emotional weight. “Starstruck” features Saxon’s Biff Byford on vocals, while “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Sympathy for the Devil” offer two different encounters with the Stones’ swagger. “Hellraiser” provides a special connection to its source, since Lemmy co-wrote the song with Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde; the previously unreleased “Rockaway Beach” adds a brief burst of Ramones energy. Closing “Whiplash,” their Grammy-winning Metallica cover, completes the exchange between a band and the heavier generations it helped inspire.