1078. Motörhead / The Wörld Is Yours. 2010. 3.5/5

Having reached into their fifth decade as a band the ability to stay relevant probably hasn’t ever been at the forefront of the minds of these three gentlemen. From the outside it always appears that they go into the studio and lay down the songs they have inside them at the time. The fact is that by staying true to themselves they have done more to keep their sound alive than they could have by looking for a constant shift in style. And as such they presented as their first album of the 2010’s the disc entitled The Wörld Is Yours.

My immediate reflection was that this is a much more rock ‘n’ roll based album than the band has produced for some time. Since the acquisition of Cameron Webb as producer, a man who has looked to bring out the more heavy and perhaps aggressive side of the music, this is much the direction that the songs have come out. And that isn’t to suggest that this is lacking in either of those elements, it is just that the songs do have that old rock melody infused back into them, something that hasn’t necessarily been the case for some time. Here, at least, is an element that can be used to differentiate this album from the other recent releases. At least one of the titles of the tracks, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music”, sort of makes this a dead giveaway, and this is the most rock ‘n’ roll track of the album.
So with the sound of this album generally pulled back into that rock rhythm, and without any songs that would be called out and out heavy and without any tracks that could be called ballads, we have a Motörhead album that doesn’t have that kind of experimentation. Instead we have ten tracks that settle for that comfortable middle ground that the band does so well, in the style that is the best attribute of the three piece.
“Born to Lose” is a title that has been decades in the making coming as it does from one of Lemmy’s favourite quotes, but it makes for a good opening track. “I Know How to Die” may well be seen to be prophetic in 2018, but more than that it is the upbeat tempo and fun song style that makes the best Motörhead albums. Ditto for “Get Back in Line” and “Devils in My Head” which goes at the same tempo and is fun to sing along to.
“Waiting for the Snake” and “Brotherhood of Man” are the two songs here that are a little off-template in comparison to the others. “Waiting for the Snake” is almost AC/DC-like throughout, holding on to its rhythm pattern all the way through. “Brotherhood of Man” on the other hand has a very “Orgasmatron” guitar sound to, and seems like either a sister track or an effort to revisit that sound from that album. The album then rushes to a conclusion, with “Outlaw” charging hard with drums and guitars blazing. “I Know What You Need” is a cracking track, being one of the harder songs on the album, while the closer “Bye Bye Bitch Bye Bye” leaves noting to the imagination and ends the disc on a highly positive note (musically at least).
While there has been a steady trend in Motorhead’s albums over the previous decade, the ones that stand out from the pack are the ones that have that consistent tempo that is not necessarily super-fast but higher than average through the songs, have Mikkey’s drums standing out in the mix, have Lemmy’s bass leading the rhythm rather than being just a part of it, have Phil’s solo’s and riffs forward and starkly in the mix, and Lemmy’s vocals being strong and bold. All of those boxes get ticked on The Wörld Is Yours.

Motörhead aren’t reinventing the wheel on this album, but perhaps you could say they have at least have a wheel alignment. The extremities have been shaved off, leaving just the good stuff in the middle. And no matter how you felt about those extremities this album is enjoyable just for the fact that they aren’t there this time around. It’s a comfortable release from a band that knows how to do what it does well.

Rating: “I know what you are, I know what you need”. 3.5/5