Album review: Motorhead’s ‘The World Is Yours’

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There’s a song on the new Motörhead record called “I Know How to Die,” but the available evidence suggests that when it comes to the band’s frontman, nothing could be further from the truth. At 65, Lemmy Kilmister is up there with Keith Richards in the realm of hard-living miracle men; if he knows how to die, he’s keeping the secret safe from his body.

Kilmister’s bourbon-fueled endurance is even more impressive in light of his productivity. “The Wörld Is Yours,” which hits stores just as a well-reviewed documentary about the rocker arrives on DVD, is the fifth studio album Motörhead has released over the last decade. (The Rolling Stones, by comparison, put out one.)

Then again, it’s easier to keep cranking out fresh material when it sounds exactly like your old material. With their crunchy guitars, galloping tempos and borderline-unintelligible vocals, new tunes like “Born to Lose” and “The Devils in My Head” do nothing to expand Motörhead’s established punk-metal. But nor do they sound in need of expansion; few rock bands seem this energized at this point in their careers.

“We might not see tomorrow,” Kilmister growls in “Waiting for the Snake.” The smart money says he will.

—Mikael Wood

Motörhead
“The Wörld Is Yours”
Motörhead Music/EMI
Two and a half stars (Out of four)