“We’re MOTORHEAD and we’re gonna kick your ass!”- Lemmy makes that statement almost every time on stage and his arrogant voice reminds me of some of the classic movies of Sergio Leone.

You know it’s not a threat, but a promise, because MOTORHEAD has been kicking ass for almost 40 years now, that’s what they have been up to for all that time. And they earned their legendary status the hard way, surviving numerous musical trends, management and label hassles, periods of creative dead ends and even Lemmy’s health issues recently which stopped them from performing on Wacken and made them postpone the whole tour around their new album for the next spring.

“Aftershock” is MOTORHEAD’s 21st album. Think about it for a second. How many active bands with 20 albums under their belt do you know? Not many, right? Therefore, you might be thinking that after so many albums these guys might have been totally burnt-out. Wrong! “Aftershock” is probably the best thing they have done in the recent years. Not insanely genius as the early 80’s stuff, but definitely pretty heavy and insane. The gut-punch (“Heartbreraker”), the high-octane punk rock’n’roll (“Going To Mexico’), the badass attitude (“Death Machine”), the blues (“Lost Woman Blues”)- everything is there plus the usual atypical jam surprises like “Dust And Glass”. “Keep Your Powder Dry” and “Silence When You Speak To Me” are in the slower end of the record, keeping it diverse and fresh.

As I already said “Aftershock” is not a cutting edge album and not all songs live up to the standards set by those already mentioned above. “Coup de Grace” is quite dull and “Paralyzed” is rather boring, especially for an ending. It won’t change your mind if you fall in the category of old fans who think MOTORHEAD had lost it long ago and are now somewhat stale. There are some other underdeveloped ideas that could be more convincing and some filler, but overall Motorhead’s 21st album is a solid work.

“Aftershock” is an accurate representation of what MOTORHEAD are about. It’s never been nice and pretty and you can almost smell the spilt beer,  the sweaty leather jackets and the backstage debauchery while listening to their records. This one is not an exclusion and that’s what matters after all.