Hey, yet another Motörhead studio album, in fact their 21st to date, and yet again a powerhouse addition to an already impressive collection of material!
With a tenacity which can only be admired, the Brits have brought us a new studio album every two years since the start of the new millennium, but Aftershock is actually a small deviation from that clockwork delivery, with this time three years between studio albums. Still, one has to forgive the guys for that slight oversight, because since late 2010's The Wörld Is Yours, there's been twó DVD releases (originally, so drummer Mikkey Dee informed – in a late 2010 interview – there were plans for a DVD box set in 2011, which was to come in a “beautiful package including many surprises”), the first (The Wörld Is Ours – Vol. 1 – Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else) being delivered in mid-November 2011, the second (The Wörld Is Ours – Vol. 2 – Anyplace Crazy As Anywhere Else) arriving in September of 2012. Of course, these releases (which never found their way into Concrete Web's headquarters) demanded extra live promotions, and the band was duly on the road, resulting at a certain moment even into some cancellations, as a combination of vocal strain with a viral infection caused Lemmy to having to let his voice rest for a while. In a late June 2012 interview, the latter stated that 6 songs were already written for The Wörld Is Ours' follow-up. When asked by Classic Rock Revisited about the possibility of an all covers album, he admitted that such a project had been discussed, and that it would be a fun thing to do.
But Aftershock is nót that covers album yet! No, what you get here are 14 new songs in true Motörhead musical tradition. Well...let's make that 12 songs in true Motörhead tradition, and two very ice surprises in the more Blues Rock geared “Lost Woman Blues” and “Dust And Glass”. Both songs have ballad qualities, and find Lemmy singing in a more subdued way than we're used of him. Overall, the package is Motörhead as we know it, but as per usual the songwriting quality is as high as ever, the songs catchy as hell! No surprise then, that the album was already generally well-received (one “professional” reviewer stating the album as the best the band released in the last 20 years), and even got into the Top 10 of several European countries' charts (as in Austria, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland). For samples of all of the regular album's songs (the album also got a limited edition release with bonus 5-track DVD), surf to the band's site (www.) imotorhear.com, and click the album cover at the bottom of the home page to get re-directed to the album's page on Amazon.