Somebody pass the whiskey, speed and cigarettes please, because if this is how good you sound at 67 years of age with a good four decades behind you with those substances fuelling your exploits then sign me up.
It’s both lazy and dead accurate to simply state this is a new Motörhead album. If you haven’t liked a Motörhead album before this one it’s unlikely this will be the one that grabs you, though steamrolling, heavy numbers like opener ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘End of Time’ will make a good go of it. ‘Death Machine’ goes for some gritty rocking blues, while ‘Last Woman Blues’ and ‘Dust and Glass’ match introspective sections with searing leads, some extra muscular crunch rounding the former out.
There’s no denying there are slight hints of Lemmy’s age in his regular gravelly vocal delivery from the album’s very outset but musically the band is as tight as you’d expect, Phil Campbell adding his always tasteful solos and Mikkey Dee driving the rambunctious three piece with rapid fire beats and fills. Things get particularly chunky on ‘Silence When You Speak To Me’ with a great stuttering verse riff and ‘Queen of the Damned’ has a vintage Motörhead bass riff intro delivered at velocity and is done in under 3 minutes.
Again, this is Motörhead, so you know what you’re gonna get. Aftershock beautifully continues the run of quality late albums, and hopefully Lemmy’s current medical conditions won’t prevent another one in a year or two.
7/10
Reviewer: Roger Killjoy