Budderside - Budderside album review

Motorhead-influenced rockers cross genres from grunge to power-pop with new self-titled album

By
( )
published
Budderside album review

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Of course, you can’t escape the Motörhead influence. The Los Angeles band are on Motörhead Music, produced by Lemmy’s son Paul Inder, and Phil Campbell even guests on the song Ska Bra but on a musical level, they’re certainly not a Motörclone.

This album stretches across a variety of styles, from power pop to grunge – it even includes hints of ska and symphonic rock. However, this is all held together by an appreciation for ensuring the eclecticism never overrides the Budderside style. And yes, there is style throughout.

Patrick Stone’s vocal approach brings to mind Robin Zander, while guitarist Michael Stoneman has the ability to range between severe riffs and gentle coaxing. Songs like Genocide, Let This One Breathe and My Religion sound like what might happen if The Cars and Foo Fighters formed a coalition. It’s bright, yet also has a tough skin. An effective debut.

How Motörhead influenced heavy music

Malcolm Dome
Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.