Artist: Motörhead
Album: The Wörld is Yours
Label: Future PLC/Motörhead Music
Release Date: Feb. 8
Grade: C+
English heavy metal outfit Motörhead has returned with its 20th — that's right, 20th — studio album, The Wörld is Yours, a release that marks the umlaut enthusiasts' fifth album in the past 10 years.
Fans of the band will be glad to know that almost 40 years of sex, drugs and heavy metal have left the sound of the band virtually unchanged since the days of Overkill and Ace of Spades. This may or may not be a good thing.
"Born to Lose" begins the album with a fast and simple riff until Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister belts in with all his fugly glory, before the song culminates in a frantic guitar solo.
The third track, "Get Back in Line," continues in this vein, and boasts even more gravelly vocals from Lemmy, eventually punctuated by yet another guitar solo.
It's around this point that the listener is hit with the album's most glaring and obvious shortcoming: every song is virtually identical. Motörhead has seriously stagnated over the years, and has become so self-derivative and uninspired that the band puts Metallica to shame.
Even worse than this, the two songs that attempt to change things up — "Rock ‘n' Roll Music" and "Brotherhood of Man" — completely miss the mark.
"Rock ‘n' Roll Music" begins with a classic '50s-rock feel, something which is almost instantly ruined by Lemmy's gruff singing and the band's seeming inability to take its instruments out of the minor key.
"Brotherhood of Man" attempts something decidedly slower and darker than typical Motörhead, but is marred by laughably bad lyrics and boring instrumentation.
Reservations aside, there are a few good tracks. "Bye Bye Bitch Bye Bye" is funny, fast, aggressive, a tad bit misogynistic, and reminiscent of the edge of the old Motörhead. The first two tracks are also generally solid, despite being repetitious.
All in all, though, The Wörld is Yours is an uninspired effort from a tired band. Think twice before you make this album yours.
E-mail: arts@ubspectrum.com
