Motörhead have been around for over 40 years. An incredible feat in this eat-em-up and spit-em-out industry, for sure, the English rock band - formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister - are often considered a precursor to, or one of the earliest members of, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

Something that, if you can remember back that far, re-energized heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Funnily enough, and despite this, Lemmy - who himself has remained the sole constant member - has always dubbed their music as simply "rock and roll".

Bad Magic is the 22nd studio album by Motörhead. It was released on 28th August, 2015 and has already been heralded as being the band back on its A-game. That band - the trio of Kilmister (bass, vocals), Philip Campbell (guitar) and Mikkey Dee on drums) - lives up to that chant, as Bad Magic goes for the throat harder, faster and more accurately than their last five albums, in my humble opinion.

The album blasts off with the "classic Motörhead"-sounding 'Victory Or Die,' and that's backed by a track that ramps that sound up ten fold, 'Thunder & Lightning.' The foot comes off the pedal somewhat on the tuneful rock 'n' roll storytelling of 'Fire Storm Hotel,' which in turn is followed by both 'Shoot Out All of Your Lights' and bass-heavy 'The Devil.'

The "lighter" vocal fare of 'Electricity' is next, then 'Evil Eye,' before the powerhaus 'Teach Them How To Bleed' is brought forth. A guitar extravaganza from Campbell, it bleeds seamlessly into the "laid back" (at times) 'Till The End.' The pace gets back up and running again on 'Tell Me Who To Kill,' which is followed by the darkest track on the album, the growled 'Choking On Your Screams.' The album then comes to a close with both the guitar fest of 'When The Sky Comes Looking For You,' and then, finally, a cover of The Rolling Stones' classic, 'Sympathy For The Devil.' An interesting choice to a) cover, and b) tag on as the last track, but it works all ways round, trust me.

Check out this BRAND NEW concert review of Motörhead from last month in Detroit!

www.imotorhead.com