“Ace Of Spades” is the one Motörhead song everybody who knows a Motörhead song knows. They play it at every single show, and will until they retire. It also kicks off this album, the absolute peak of their early era (though not their best album overall, obviously). Produced by Vic Maile, who worked with bands ranging from the Who to Dr. Feelgood, the album has a clean, stripped-down feel that allows the trio’s power to come across almost unfiltered. It doesn’t seem anywhere near as polished as it actually is — compare it to Bomber and the difference in visceral impact is immediately apparent.

The songwriting is straightforward and pretty much great across the board. The usual mix of blazing fast ones and slow burners is firmly tilted in favor of speed, though — there’s only one midtempo song, “Shoot You In The Back,” and one slow, bluesy crawl, “The Chase Is Better Than The Catch,” and the latter leads directly into “The Hammer,” one of Motörhead’s punkiest, most vicious tracks ever.

What really makes Ace Of Spades great is the way Maile brings Lemmy’s “lead bass” sound to the fore. Since Hawkwind, he’d been pumping out a treble-heavy, ultra-distorted roar that worked more like a rhythm guitar than a bass, and here, he absolutely dominates, with Fast Eddie Clarke’s guitar frequently buried in the mix, only emerging when it’s time for the solo. This is particularly true on “Love Me Like A Reptile,” where the bass is absolutely monolithic. This album is the audio equivalent of a series of kicks in the face, but it’s also energizing and fun.