MOTORHEAD – Aftershock – CD review

MOTORHEAD
Aftershock
UDR

So, here it is, the latest Motorhead album. Of course, recent years have seen a neverending glut of live albums, but this is actually the first studio album in 3 years.  It’s finally out in the UK as a normal CD, instead of the fan pack version, although it’s been overshadowed by Lemmys health problems which have seen their European tour cancelled.  So is studio album number 21 up to scratch?

Well, yes.  Ish.  See Motorhead have settled into a groove over the last decade.  “Inferno”, “Kiss Of Death”, “Motörizer”,  and ”    The Wörld Is Yours” are pretty interchangeable. A handful of really good tracks and a few fillers.  Now, don’t get me wrong, Motorhead filler is still better than most of what passes for rock music, but the pattern is continued here.

I’m sure lot’s of people will be saying it’s “the best Motorhead album in years”, but I can guarantee you, they’re the people who haven’t actually heard one in years.  In fact, “The Wörld Is Yours” is probably the best in the last decade, not this one, but it’s hard to favour one over the others.  Maybe it’s time to move on and work with another producer.  Here’s hoping they make it that far.

This one starts off in cliched fashion, but really takes off with ‘Coup De Grace’, replete with a classic eighties MH riff. ‘Death Machine’ and ‘Going To Mexico’ are top notch, and the ballad ‘Dust And Glass’ will suprise and amaze in equal measure. Wizzo saves his best guitar work for ‘Crying Shame’, and they return to the blues on, um, ‘Lost Woman Blues’.  Musically, Mickey Dee remains the best drummer in the world, and Lemmy is Lemmy.

It’s a good Motorhead album, one that delivers what you expect, without ever blowing the roof off.  But good Motorhead remains better than most, so buy and enjoy.

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