- Country: United Kingdom
- Style: Heavy metal / Hard rock
- Label: UDR
- Release date: 28 August 2015
Nobody knew it at the time, but this was the last one. Lemmy died four months after Bad Magic came out, and listening now it’s hard not to hunt for goodbyes. There aren’t many. “Victory or Die” kicks the door in exactly the way a Motörhead opener should, Mikkey Dee hammering away like he’s got a train to catch, and the album barely lets up from there.
What makes it more than a contractual Motörhead record is how loose it feels. For once the Kilmister/Campbell/Dee line-up wrote and recorded together in the studio, with Cameron Webb at the desk, and there’s a scrappy, live-in-the-room push to “Thunder & Lightning” and “Electricity” that the previous few albums sometimes sanded off. Brian May turns up for a solo on “The Devil” and fits in fine. “Till the End” is the one that stings – Lemmy, slower and reflective, looking back without a trace of self-pity.
It’s not perfect. Thirteen tracks is a couple too many, and the closing cover of “Sympathy for the Devil” is a nice gesture that adds little. But as a full stop, you could do a lot worse.
Best tracks:
Victory or Die
Thunder & Lightning
Electricity
Till the End
When the Sky Comes Looking for You
Author’s rating: 7.8/10
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