Aftershock (2013)

Aftershock (2013)

It takes a lot to keep Motörhead from releasing an album every other year. (Their longest break was between 1987’s Rock ‘N’ Roll and 1991’s 1916, during which time they were switching labels and suing the one they were leaving.) But between 2010’s The Wörld Is Yours and Aftershock, the band came close to ending entirely, as Lemmy’s legendary lifestyle finally caught up with him. He’d been a diabetic for years, managing to keep a mid-1990s coma out of the press, but in summer 2013 he was hit by a string of health crises all in a row. First, he underwent surgery to have a defibrillator installed to correct an irregular heartbeat. Then he suffered a blood clot which forced the band to cancel a string of shows.

Naturally, all of this colored perceptions of the band’s 21st album, when it arrived at year’s end. And honestly, Aftershock might be the weakest of Motörhead’s recent records. For one thing, it’s got 14 songs, which is at least two too many. (There are no long ones, though; the whole album comes in under 47 minutes.) For another, it has some of Lemmy’s worst, laziest lyrics ever — the first verse of “Coup De Grace” is cringeworthy. (“Make it quick/ The coup de grace/ Makes you dead/ Kills your ass/ Gives you nightmares/ Bad dreams” … come on, dude, go for a second draft before stepping up to the microphone.) But at the same time, it also features some surprisingly strong material, particularly “Lost Woman Blues,” which is a slow-crawling, moody track that sits among their best blues efforts. When you’re a great band, with a highly defined style, there’s only so far you can fall. A substandard Motörhead album is still a Motörhead album, and it’s still better than the work of the young bands coming up behind them.