Album Review: MOTÖRHEAD – ‘AFTERSHOCK’

“Don’t know what I did last night, but I know I did it good”

Lemmy Kilmister on “Do You Believe” from Aftershock

It’s been quite a year for metal veterans, Motörhead. Like everyone else, I thought Lemmy was & Motörhead were as indestructible as a horde of post-apocalyptic roaches. After cancelling their European tour due to his widely reported health problems, and Lemmy’s rumored demise, it looked like the band might not continue on. Motörhead dedicated their last album, The Wörld Is Yours, to Ronnie James Dio, and many wondered aloud if their 21st studio album, Aftershock, would be dedicated to the memory of Lemmy.

Despite all Vegas odds being stacked against him, Lemmy proved that his deal with the devil is still in good standing. Motörhead is back, and currently preparing to kick off a massive European tour in support of the record.

Aftershock opens with a fucking bang with the track “Heartbreaker“, and it never, ever lets go. 14 tracks strong, it’s a full-throttle thrill ride. And Lemmy, who turns 68 in December, doesn’t sound like a man who cheated death this year, but more like a man who, when death came knocking on his door, took the grim reaper out back, spit in his face, and shot him in the head instead.

When Lemmy growls, “You can kiss, or you can tell –  ‘cause I’m a whore,” he’s as grizzled and defiant sounding as ever on buzzy guitar slinger, “Coup De Grace“. And the blues undercurrent that routinely finds its way into Motörhead’s sound in the form of jangly pianos, and wailing, fucking in the back-alley riffs that litter the band’s catalog, are present. Motörhead even gets slightly sacrilegious by mellowing out a bit on “Lost Woman Blues”. A template Delta my-woman-left-me track that Motörhead brings on home hard. Later on, Lemmy somehow channels a little bit of his psychedelic past with Sam Gopal back in the late 60’s, on the stripped-down track, “Dust and Glass”.

But don’t worry, my headbanging friends, Aftershock is a true to form heavy metal shit-kicker. Many of its jams clock in at a thrashy 3 minutes or less.  One of my favorite heavy metal highlights is “End of Time”. It’s textbook Motörhead. When Lemmy crackles lines like, “I know I’ve got to live – I know I’ve got to die”, or “Dancing with the devil till the end of time”, it’s like the story his life, especially over this past year. Phil Campbell’s guitar work on “Time” is a particular stand out – he sounds supercharged, fresh and furious. When Campbell said late last month that the members of Motörhead felt like “three spring chickens”, he wasn’t kidding. This record could have been a follow-up to the band’s 1983 record, Another Perfect Day.

Campbell’s work shines again on the Ace of Spades-tinged, “Death Machine”, as well as the 2:40 second hell-ride “Queen of the Dammed”. Just one of many fist-pumpers on Aftershock.  Damned sounds like the soundtrack to your next 2 AM bar fight.  Fuck, you should be so lucky to be getting punched in the face while Lemmy’s bragging about one of his many tattooed conquests in the background.

As the record winds up, “Keep Your Powder Dry” had me hitting up the Internet to figure out if this was some special Lemmy code for a groupie before she’s allowed backstage. Turns out the phrase was coined in 1856 by Oliver Cromwell, an English military and political leader, while addressing his army as they invaded Ireland. “Keep your powder dry” was a warning to Cromwell’s soldiers to be sure to keep their gunpowder dry, so they were ready to fight. Of course, knowing Lemmy, he might have also been thinking of Lana Turner in the 1956 flick of the same name.

Gunpowder and Lana Tuner? Sounds like Motörhead alright. Also closing out Aftershock are two strong tracks, “Knife” and “Paralyzed”. Both feature Lemmy thundering verses like “You can scream and cry, nobody cares”, while speed-king Mikkey Dee murders his kit, crushing both tracks to bits in under six minutes.

Like so many Motörhead fans, I’ve always looked forward to their releases. But with Aftershock, the wait has been especially rewarding. It’s always a good sign when you can imagine hearing the recording live, and every track on this rock-solid record will undoubtedly impress when they come throttling 100 MPH from massive stacks of Marshalls.

Aftershock comes out October 22nd, and it’s must-have Motörhead for any fan with a working iron fist. Lemmy might be 49% motherfucker, and 51% son-of-a-bitch, but Aftershock is quantifiably 100% Motörhead.