Motorjesus – Hellbreaker

Hellbreaker Album Cover Art

Motorjesus – Hellbreaker
AFM Records
Release Date: 09/04/2021
Running Time: 44:32
Review by Simon Black
9/10

Motorjesus have been at this a long time, coming from the Lemmy school of ‘down to earth roll up the sleeves and get on with it’ corner of Rock ’n’ Roll. They date back to the early 1990’s, having changed their names from the slightly less commercially acceptable The Shitheadz and have been producing albums under the Motorjesus moniker since 2004. This is album number six for the German five piece and follows the well-trodden path of high-octane German Rock ’n’ Roll wrapped up in a colourful mascot-emblazoned cover. That long experience is positively tangible, but at the same time it’s wrapped up in a really fresh and crisply energetic delivery of the calibre newer bands often exude.

This is a band who know exactly what they need to deliver and who seem to have no problem cranking out the tunes on demand. The vocal delivery is very gruff and gutsy, but so full of energy and enthusiasm from Chris “Howling” Birx with lyrics that follow the formula of driving music meets fantasy, perhaps summed up best by the nod to Judge Dredd and more specifically his gun, both named ‘Lawgiver’ which alongside pure road music like ‘Drive Through Fire’ and the absolutely belting ‘Car Wars’ is road music at its best and will go down a treat at a bike rally. It’s Rock ’n’ Roll, so I wasn’t expecting complex technical instrumental interplay – this is all about living fast and delivering the goods and I can foresee each and every one of these songs working well in a sweaty club somewhere (assuming there are any left when this fucking virus has been kicked into touch). That said, it may not be overtly technical, but that does not mean that there is some seriously skilful musicianship at work here as these boys can play fast, melodic and heavy as fuck all in one go – with enough boogie in the rhythms and beats to keep feet tapping and heads nodding. They are also running in a new guitarist in Patrick Wassenburg who seems to have subtly changed their sounds in favour of the more Metal tropes of blistering solo work to go with that crunch rhythm based delivery and the opportunity for a bit of harmonised playing. And pretty good with it he is too, so the end result is a Metal tinged R’n’R album that really is going to appeal broadly.

From what I can gather, this album isn’t doing anything conceptually, tonally or lyrically that they haven’t done before but, if like me, you are not familiar with the back catalogue, then with eleven fast and furious, well-delivered tracks to get you going this is an excellent place to start. And this does not sound like a band who’ve been at it forever with a huge back catalogue. This is new, fresh and positively full of energy. Spot on.

‘Firebreather’ (Official Video)

TRACKLISTING:
01. Drive Through Fire
02. Battlezone
03. Hellbreaker
04. Beyond The Grave
05. Dead Rising
06. Car Wars
07. Firebreather
08. Lawgiver
09. Black Hole Overload
10. Back To The Bullet
11. The Outrun

LINE-UP:
Chris “Howling” Birx – Vocals
Andy Peters – Guitars
Patrick Wassenberg – Guitars
Dominik Kwasny – Bass
Adam Borosch – Drums

LINKS:

Motorjesus Promo Pic

Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Simon Black and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.

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