Mötley Crüe Cancelled On New Record Label

Review By
Fraser Allen

Mötley Crüe have been around since the early 80’s and during that time they have produced some pretty fine material. The core of the band has remained consistent since that time with singer Vince Neil, ‘stepping out’ for a few years and Mick Mars recently retiring and being replaced by John 5. 

The band haven’t released any new albums since 2008’s Saints of Los Angeles and this latest release, their first EP release on Big Machine Records, ‘Cancelled’, is their first with John 5 on guitar. 

The main track ‘Cancelled’ starts off peacefully enough but almost straight away John 5 kicks in with a heavy grooving drop D riff. Nikki Sixx soon joins in with a massive pounding groove but as soon as Vince starts singing, the groove opens up with a sliding swinging riff which gives a real contrast to the intro and chorus, which are both are much more full on affair. There are some great harmony parts over the chorus section which sounds like classic Mötley Crüe however John 5’s guitar style is very different from that of Mick Mars who had a more bluesy melodic approach to his solos, whereas John 5 has a more furious approach, employing his undoubtedly impressive technical fretboard skills to produce a frenetic feel that is very different to that of Mick Mars. 

Lyrically the song is an ironic dig at the ‘cancel culture’ that seems to have gripped the social media world we live in where people can be shunned or even verbally attacked if they do something that is seen as unacceptable. This is ironic because Mötley Crüe have forged their entire career on being unacceptable (at least to our parents.!)

‘Cancelled’ is a great song that fits in well with the Mötley Crüe back catalogue and will certainly stay on my playlist for a while. 

Another big drop D riff kicks off the second track on this EP, ‘Dogs of War’. Thematically this song deals with a similar subject to the previous track empowering the listener to stand up for what they believe in and not to let other people bring them down. The song is really well produced and has a great feel to it although I do catch myself counting how many times Vince Neil sang the word bastards throughout the track. 

Vince’s vocals are still spot-on throughout both of these tracks and there are some massive Mötley Crüe choruses to enjoy throughout. The repetitive nature of the lyrics does mean that they will very soon get stuck in your head – but that’s a good thing.

The last track on the EP is a cover of the Beastie Boys’ ‘Fight for your Right’. I can only assume that this has been included as it sits well thematically with the previous two tracks. It seems that every band has to do a cover of this song at some point, and it is a good song, but I don’t feel perhaps that Mötley Crüe bring anything new with their version but don’t let that put you off as the two original Mötley Crüe tracks are great and well worth subjecting your earholes to!

EP Track Listing:

Cancelled

Dogs of War

Fight For Your Right