Critics have often attacked Motörhead for, as they say, constantly putting out the same album over and over again. Then again, the formula of “verse, chorus, verse” has always worked for Lemmy Kilmister and crew, so when it came time for them to record Kiss Of Death, their 18th studio album, why would they bother to change what works?
However, this time around, there is something definitely missing from the formula, and the end result is just an average album from Kilmister, guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee.
Is it a bad disc? Hardly. “Trigger” could well be one of Motörhead's unheralded classics, with a chorus that will have you tapping your feet at the same time you're banging your head against the wall. Likewise, “One Night Stand” chugs and stomps its way into the listener's heart.
Unfortunately, this is pretty much where the praise stops. It's not that the remainder of Kiss Of Death is bad, but it hardly breaks any new ground for Motörhead. Even the ballad “God Was Never On Your Side,” while deep and pretty, is almost expected of the band at this stage, and doesn't challenge either the band or the listener such as “Whorehouse Blues” did back on Inferno. Also, one has to wonder just what guest musicians like C.C. DeVille and Mike Inez really added to the mix – did Motörhead really need additional bass guitar on “Under The Gun”? And while this version featured the three-piece band, did we really need another version of “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.”?
Yes, it can be argued successfully that Motörhead kept making the same album in the same style their whole career, but they at least found ways to keep things sounding fresh and interesting from disc to disc, even on their weakest efforts. This time, though, Kiss Of Death just leaves the listener thinking, “I've heard this all before,” and doesn't present them with anything to suggest that the band was continuing to grow musically.
There are enough songs on Kiss Of Death to make it worth checking out, but in the end, it proves to be one of Motörhead's least satisfying efforts.