Record Review: Motorhead: Aftershock

Record Review

MOTORHEAD-Aftershock (UDR/Motorhead Music)

Three things in life: Death, Taxes and Motorhead still making the three chord in your face hard rock and roll for almost 40 years.  There's no denying that, what you hear is what you get.  Ian Kilmister aka Lenny has that voice that everybody knows and you either like or hate.  Every album does sound the same, but in my case some albums are memorable than others,  no reason to tell you which ones, you probably think they all sound the same.  Fast and loose, like a song that Lemmy wrote and sang years ago.

Aftershock, the new Motorhead shows more of a variety.  A couple of speed metal rockers in the sound of Ace Of Spades (Queen Of The Dammed, Heartbreaker) an actual blues song slowed down most of the way before Mikkey Dee wakes up and adds a bit of shuffle (Lost Woman Blues), another mid tempo unMotorhead like (Dust And Glass) and plenty of I love rock and roll songs to boot (Do You Believe) and lots of great advice from Lemmy (Silence When You're Talking To Me, Keep Your Power Dry).

Even though Lemmy and Motorhead have been around for close to 40 years, more than half of that time, he's had the same lineup Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee who been there longer than the considered classic lineup of Fast Eddie Clarke and Phil (the animal) Taylor (Michael Burnston aka Wurzel left after Bastards their 1993 classic) and Cameron Webb has been the longest serving producer since Inferno and Webb continues to capture the band's live sound very well on record.   There's even a bit of piano on Crying Shame but still a in your face rocker.

If anything Aftershock is a more varied in sound Motorhead but it's still rocks and my opinion is that it's better than The World Is Yours album of 3 years ago, a long time between Motorhead albums.  (They still released two live albums in between though so there's no real shortage of music ya kno?).  At age 67, Lemmy still sounds like Lemmy, but a with a more croak in the vocals especially on Coup De Grace.  And that rock and rock lifestyle is taking a more notable toll after years of Jack Daniels and Marlboro Reds but he's still alive and still not surrendering whatsoever.  Which is why I love Lemmy for who he is and like Aftershock for what it is. an honest hard rock and roll album from a band that has been doing this in the same way for four decades.

Which I'll take over anything from Radiohead or Flaming Lips anyday.

Grade B+