It’s hard to believe that this is MOTÖRHEAD‘s 21st album in some ways and in other ways in seems just right. Just when people thought Lemmy Kilmister might be down for the count due to illness, he and Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee come out with an effort that will blow your socks off and meet your every expectation. That is high praise in this day and age for a band that has been around through it all, but fresh blood seems to have been flushed through the veins of Lemmy and company..
“Heartbreaker” starts off with typical MOTÖRHEAD sound, hard and heavy with crushing forward rhythms. “Monsters at the edge of time
Waiting ‘til we cross the line, All the find is black despair, Heartbreaker,” the lyrics are reminiscent of AC/DC in their prime but cranked up to eleven a la Spinal Tap. This just bleeds directly into “Coup De Grace” which sounds like a Coda of sorts and blisters on, but the pace slows slightly as they pull into “Lost Woman Blues”. This is Lemmy playing homage to classic blues and it works beautifully,”I gotta shut the door behind me, Go out n’ buy some highway shoes, ‘Cus I swear I’m sick and tired, Singing the easiest going blues,” he works it only as Lemmy can.
From their the boys smack you hard by picking up the rock with “End of Time” which is a pretty faced pace roller with some awesome riffs, “Do You Believe” which once again relies on classic rock n roll chord progressions, “Death Machine” that retains a true MOTÖRHEAD fuzz tone that will have your head banging quick and will more than likely end up on a movie soundtrack. “Dust and Glass” once again slows the pace down where we gain the philosophical truths of Kilmister, “Hard times, dirt and lies, Born in pain, End in grief, Remember this and die” that ends rather abruptly but to a rather poignant effect.
“Going to Mexico” is great fun in pace and chorus, “Silence When You Speak to Me” and “Crying Shame” are fair tunes, but “Queen of the Damned” definitely stands out more of the last half of the album as a true MOTÖRHEAD rocker with that signature sound attached to it…the awesome bass chords only Lemmy can produce and chopping guitar. “Knife”, “Keep Your Powder Dry” and “Paralyzed” round out the new release and have some very strong influences that can be heard and felt from top to bottom, but come out only the way that MOTÖRHEAD makes them sound and feel.
Overall this is an A+ effort for the band and an outstanding collection of new songs that they should be beaming about. “It is,” says Mikkey Dee, “a really, really strong MOTÖRHEADalbum, one that really does define everything this band stands for.” True that Mikkey Dee.
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