Motorhead: Kiss Of Death
Motorhead, what shall I do with you. To an alien beaming in from planet Zog it would appear that today’s Motorhead are nothing more than a trendy T-shirt print you’d find in a high street fashion emporium. A shirt worn by the achingly cool while the older set who were there “back in the day” scoff and grumble into their copies of Classic Rock magazine.
Motorhead are more than ever a symbol of hard rock music, through re-issues of records such as Ace of Spades and No Sleep Till Hammersmith, but is the current incarnation past their sell by date?
Kiss of Death is the latest offering from a band no strangers to bashing out tinnitus-inducing rock and roll, the prime directive usually falling along the “play it hard fast and loud and play it often” lines. This offering certainly doesn’t disappoint as first track Sucker sets the tempo with Lemmy growling away in his usual unique vocal style. In truth, Motorhead are the type of bands where fans usually know what they’re going to get with any new album, and it’s fair to say that this is no different. The riffs are great and the whole thing sounds fantastic blasting through the stereo at ear-splitting volume. The crucial failing is that it’s been done before, not even by Lemmy & co. Devil I Know opens with a cracking riff that would be more at home on an Iron Maiden album and Lemmy’s vocal sounds out of place, almost as if he’s struggling to keep up.
Just as I’m losing patience the album eases into God Was Never On Your Side,
a beautiful acoustic guitar-led number where the vocal takes on a sad weathered and almost tragic quality before the power chorus kicks in. A great tune in it’s own right, it breaks the headbanging monotony that has set in by this stage in listening proceedings.
In essence, there’s nothing particularly wrong with this record as such. There are great riffs, guitar solo aplenty and the songs are punchy and direct. I’m struck with the overwhelming impression that Lemmy as a vocalist isn’t comfortable with the material. Indeed, it brings a certain sadness to hear one of rock’s great icons becoming almost secondary to the rest of proceedings. Final track Going Down is a hell for leather effort that goes some way to redeeming the blandness of the earlier songs but it’s a little too much too late.
This album isn’t bad by any manner of means, but the focus seems to be on pounding beats and riffs than on writing something catchy. There’s no doubt Motorhead are a band who are more than capable of writing a great hook and memorable chorus, but sadly Kiss Of Death falls a good way short of this. On the flipside, most of the songs on this album will work superbly on a crowded dancefloor or at a gig where heavy metal fans want to let the hair down and unashamedly rock. Just don’t spill beer on your Topshop shirt………
Kiss Of Death is out now on SPV
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