Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Motörhead
Label: UDR
Release: 2013
Length: 46:54
Rating: 5/5
»Aftershock«! The new Motörhead album! And it’s landed a year off the usual schedule, since Motörhead albums have been dropping every two years like clockwork since 2002. »Aftershock« follows its predecessor »The Wörld is Yours« (2010) after three.
Earlier this year the news hit like a bolt from the blue: serious health problems for the man we can safely call the one true icon of rock ‘n’ roll of all time. That’s the »Iron Chancellor« himself, Lemmy Kilmister. Wait, that can’t be right, can it? The Iron Chancellor is immortal. Well, seemingly. And yet even »Snaggletooth« gets his teeth worn down eventually. Ah, those years. There are too few of them. And they sneak past you. Silently. Saying nothing. For Lemmy the joking is over health-wise, and even his medicine, the daily liter of Jack Daniels, isn’t reliable anymore. And when »Matilda gave him a proper scare«, Motörhead cancelled all their summer shows at European festivals for 2013. They turned up only symbolically on the stage of Wacken Open Air, playing a half-hour set to hint to the masses: »No! It’s not over yet! We’re still moving!« Soon after the cancellation of all those summer festival gigs, already in early July, came the announcement of a new autumn arena tour! Motörhead across Europe with Saxon as support. Germany and the UK, to be exact! And all along it was clear the band was also preparing a new studio album, which the new tour would be dedicated to.
And the result? A whole fourteen tracks. And quite a few that are out of character for everything we’ve been getting from Motörhead all these years. As if the band sensed this might really be its last studio album. As if they told themselves: »Let’s make an album with all those ideas we’ve wanted to record but never had the right chance for!« Now or never, then.
And »Aftershock«? Is it a different album? The word different in connection with Motörhead is almost an act of blasphemy. To be more exact, it’s not so much different as colorful. Everything on it is typically “Motörheadesque”. That’s the constant, and the bronzed trio of hellish punks doesn’t budge from it. But we can say it’s more colorful than your average Motörhead album released in the last twenty years.
We could even argue that »Aftershock« is a slowed-down album again, maybe even, alongside »Hammered« (2002), the slowest album of the band’s career. But that’s no measure of quality. Just a less important fact. Motörhead stopped playing »fast and hard« sometime in the late nineties, when they went from a quartet back to a trio. Maybe Lemmy got sick of the fact that more and more »hasty« music critics were suddenly shoving Motörhead toward the metalheads. »Bastards« and »Sacrifice« carry a deadly wound-up, metalized sound. No arguing with that. But that was the nineties.
»Aftershock«, though, is a real return to the roots of the musical tastes of Motörhead’s members, let’s just say Lemmy’s. On »Aftershock« you hear a riff inspired by the elementary riff of Hendrix’s Purple Haze in the track Death Machine. You also hear Lost Woman Blues, which Joe Bonamassa could have cut without breaking a sweat on one of his studio albums, and a bit later another invigorating »bluesy« number, Dust And Glass. At the same time there are quite a few moments on the album, including the opener Heartbreaker and Crying Shame (with piano added in the chorus – of course it’s barely noticeable in the mix), that remind you Lemmy Kilmister has always been a huge fan of The Beatles, the lads and their work. Put bluntly, that means that behind all that »tough reputation of a sharp-dressed man« Lemmy is a lover of perfect melodies. One such case is the excellent combo of rock ‘n’ roll and chorus catchiness in the new track Killer!
Want a punch in the forehead, despite the »weird development of content« of this piece? A speed march that comes close to the hellishness of »Bastards« (1994), but with far more organic sonic »maturity«? That’s the new track End Of Time! And it’s not alone. Near the album’s tail it’s joined in that kind of energy by Paralysed.
Going To Mexico counts as one of the hardest-hitting cuts on the record. It opens »copied« and already heard, in the style of something like We Are Motörhead, and in the middle the rhythm flips on its head. Don’t try to dance to it, or you’ll end up with water on both knees. Otherwise the album is full of typical, organically delivered rock ‘n’ roll firecrackers, loaded with the stripped-down filth of Philip Campbell’s instantly recognizable gritty guitar, the unique rattle of the Rickenbacker bass, Mikkey Dee’s cannon-fire swings, and that thing we always come to Motörhead for. The »deadliness« that in this galaxy only the famous figure of Lemmy Kilmister can squeeze out. And don’t worry. It’s not running out of breath. The moments of typical rock ‘n’ roll authenticity on the album, and with them Motörhead’s toughness, are Silence When You Speak To Me, Coup De Grace, and Do You Believe. Queen of the Damned is even sensibly comparable to the late seventies. It’s a punk-ish rock ‘n’ roller with a built-in punk note from Motörhead’s unique recipe, proving that Motörhead can today sound more like the ultimate one-of-a-kind lineup with Eddie »Fast« Clark than at any point after that lineup fell apart, which was soon after the release of »Iron Fist« (1982). Of course that’s just one lone spark on the new album.
Cameron Webb’s production proved once again that it’s tailor-made for Motörhead’s new times. »Aftershock« is primal and organic. The primal energy that the trio format produces in rock ‘n’ roll couldn’t be presented any better. Production-wise, »Aftershock« is actually caught in the same vibe as its predecessor »The Wörld Is Yours«, only it’s much more varied in the colorfulness of its lead ideas across the tracks. There are 14 of them, and believe me. You won’t be bored. Even though they keep doing the same things over again, they also know how to shock victoriously all over again! And that’s all they need!
It’s also an album that, precisely because of the variety it embodies, is more interesting and more appealing to listen to than a dozen of the band’s last studio albums. What the otherwise excellent predecessor »The Wörld Is Yours« hinted at, »Aftershock« has taken even further! The trio stays untamed and unique, and in every move it’s still graced by its unmistakable, homegrown artistic originality. The sheer authenticity Motörhead still ooze after decades of defiance is a real miracle. This time the band managed to find a great middle ground between what everyone demands of it, that is, its crushing, instantly recognizable energy, and its own wish to get a string of idea-rich compositions onto tape. The dialogue and symbiosis of the two principles is perfect, and I dare say Motörhead haven’t put out an album this good in the last twenty years.
If this has to be the last Motörhead album, it’ll go down as the band’s superb requiem! It’s done in true style, all rock-solid, chest-puffed masculinity! This band never knew surrender, never kowtowing, never servility. It took. Even the hard way, when the nice way didn’t work. »If I have to go to hell, I’ll march into the wastes of hell upright!« »Aftershock« is a superb album. It’s a 100% Motöhrhead album, with no feeling that Lemmy and company are stopping by accident. Let’s set Lemmy’s broken health aside. The energy of this album carries a different message! And it firmly hints that the show is far from over. Now hurry off to the store for the new Motörhead album. May it light up your heads!
Lineup
Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister – bass, vocals
Phil Campbell – guitar
Mikkey Dee – drums
Production
Cameron Webb
Tracklist
1. Heartbreaker
2. Coup de Grace
3. Lost Woman Blues
4. End Of Time
5. Do You Believe
6. Death Machine
7. Dust And Glass
8. Going To Mexico
9. Silence When You Speak To Me
10. Crying Shame
11. Queen Of The Damned
12. Knife
14. Keep Your Powder Dry
15. Paralyzed
