CD Review: Motorhead, Kiss Of Death

Motorhead, then. If there was ever a band capable of taking on the Rolling Stones in terms of hanging in there, throwing out album after album, touring relentlessly and steadfastly refusing to die, it's Motorhead.

And guess what? Motorhead have a new album out - Kiss Of Death. And what does Kiss Of Death by Motorhead sound like? It sounds like Motorhead you idiot, what were you expecting, Keane? And since Kiss Of Death by Motorhead sounds like Motorhead, it rocks approximately 10,000 times harder and is a million times more fantastic than anything else your puny human brain can comprehend.

Quite why Lemmy from Motorhead hasn't been knighted yet is nothing short of a travesty. The man is a national institution, capable on living on nothing but Jack Daniels, fags and women who look like they hang around with WWF wrestlers a bit too much. However, Motorhead isn't comprised of Lemmy alone - there's also bouffant-haired Welsh drummer Mikkey Dee and guitarist Phil Campbell to contend with. And despite their collective age of over 300 million years, Motorhead throw more fire into new album Kiss Of Death than most new bands manage in their entire careers.

Reviewing a Motorhead album always seems slightly redundant - if you like Motorhead, you'll love Kiss Of Death. If you don't like Motorhead, well, you won't like Kiss Of Death, but at least you'll be forced to rearrange your haircut after it has blasted from your speakers like a flamethrower. All the typical Motorhead ingredients are contained on Kiss Of Death - Lemmy's guttural, semi-comprehensible roar and guitars louder than an exploding planet, all performed at such a dizzying speed that you half expect that they're taking the piss even though you know telling this to Lemmy would end up with you in intensive care.

But what about the songs on Kiss Of Death by Motorhead? Are they any good? Well, they have names like Sucker (chorus: "SUCKER!"), Trigger, Devil I Know, Under The Gun and Sword Of Glory, so you can probably guess - they're fantastic. Probably not the sort the thing you'd request for your first dance at a wedding, but fantastic nonetheless.

Lemmy has gone on record saying that Kiss Of Death is better than their last album, the critically dry-humped Inferno, but it's a hard call since both Kiss Of Death and Inferno sound more or less completely identical to these ears, right down to the obligatory stripped-down number. On Kiss Of Death, that honour goes to God Was Never On Your Side - an acoustic ballad and the only time where Lemmy sounds anywhere near his age. Despite all the barmy Motorhead lyrics about "righteous dogs" and the "son of reason," it almost sounds like it could have come from one of the later Johnny Cash albums.

Apart from God Was Never On Your Side, the rest of Kiss Of Death by Motorhead is the same relentless - if slightly one-note - million miles per hour ramalama thrash that Motorhead have been dining off for 30 years. There's nothing here that will replace Overkill as the traditional Motorhead set-closer, but God bless them, they know what we want.

Now buy Kiss Of Death by Motorhead from Amazon

[story by Stuart Heritage]