Motorhead

"Aftershock"

Label: UDG Gmbh Records

If Black Sabbath gave birth to metal, then Motörhead taught it to play ball and ride a bike.

Aftershock takes metal back to its roots where blues meets rock and roll adrenaline with heart. As the dick swinging daddy of metal, Motörhead's new album stands up and smacks down their children with the kind of grace only age can produce. It really puts the kids in their place. It's been 15 years since Metallica made an album that comes close. This is hands down their best work since Orgasmatron. Thirty-eight years into a career of ass kicking, Lemmy Kilmister's middle finger is in the air in defiance of his own mortality. Every song is an appropriate response to the journey. You buy the ticket so you can take the ride, don't you?

"Lost Woman Blues" is painful and gritty. It sounds like a soul bound with dirty rope and dragged behind a pickup truck down a gravel road. Leadbelly would be proud. Phil Campbell's driving rifts dominate "Going to Mexico" while Mikkey Dee's drumming stokes his engine the whole way. Once this record leaks its way into the metal/punk subculture, "Going To Mexico" will be covered by Texas bands for decades to come. Believe that. Motörhead is tighter and cleaner than ever, but they haven't lost their essence in production like so many other bands who start hard and lose their edge for the sake of the mainstream. (yeah, you know who I'm talking about) "Keep Your Powder Dry" is an old school, tongue in cheek anthem with the kind of dark humor that hardcore fans love from Motörhead. It feels like a missing track from AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Angus Young got a spanking and Lemmy was holding the paddle.

Whether this album is the greatest last gasp ever taken by a band before they rest on their laurels or a second wind, Aftershock rocks. It is definitely an essential instant classic that MUST be added to the collection of all lovers of the hard stuff. Get it.

"Steal it if you must, buy it if you can!" - Lemmy Kilmister