Aftershock

Even as Lemmy Kilmister closes in on 70, Motörhead's avalanche rock & roll still makes most metal sound rigid in comparison. On Aftershock, "Lost Woman Blues" and "Dust and Glass" relax enough to tap Britain's 1960s blues revival. But your main choice, as ever, is between fast and faster. Endlessly obsessed with damned dames and the fugitive life, Kilmister remains most powerful at his most apocalyptic: piling up molten "Train Kept A Rollin' " riffs in "Death Machine"; "wishing that the future didn't look so grim" in "End of Time." Having gone through a series of health issues, he stares mortality directly in the eye – but that's his job, right?