Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Breaking out of Hell is easy to do, you just need a high-octane soundtrack and the ability to look the Devil in the rear-view mirror without fear, without regret, and without the hangover that spoils a good getaway.
A plan of escape is only as good as the people behind it, and in some you wouldn’t dare argue with their vision of being the one Hellbreaker to succeed in putting two careful fingers up to the supposed authority, but for the supreme and often Herculean sounding German Metal band Motorjesus, it is possible to imagine that the escape from the bonds of Hell leaves the realm quaking in trepidation and unease should the vehicle perform a U-turn and demand that the horned one keeps his seat warm for them. For in their brand- new recording, Hellbreaker, what transpires is an old school drive down the road of Rock and Metal, but with five added gears, an engine that has had the finest technologist tune it, and with more modifications than James Bond’s Q Branch were ever able to attach in one perfect sitting.
Following on from their last studio recording, Race To Resurrection, Chris ‘Howling’ Birch, Andy Peters, new guitarist Patrick Wassenburg, Dominik Kwasny and Adam Borosch have looked under the bonnet, and witnessed the desire of all to have Motorjesus look the devil in the detail in the eye and produce an album that engages with the senses throughout. It is almost as if the album, which includes stunning tracks such as Battlezone, Beyond The Grave Dead Rising, Lawgiver, the excellent Back To The Bullet and The Outrun has been crossed with the fundamentalism of grafting Punk, and this hybrid genre is the result of putting the foot down on the accelerator and forcibly knocking others who suggest they should slow down off the road and into the sidings where they belong.
If you can’t drive fast to get out of Hell, then the Devil is going to crush your plans, and Hell is only another term for not grasping that life, especially as we collectively look to escape a period of time where we have been tortured by our own isolation, is for those willing to live to the absolute maximum speed they can achieve.
Refuse to let your image of Hell become your only world, for the Hellbreaker is ready to take you to places you forgot existed.
Motorjesus’ Hellbreaker is out now and available from AFM Records.
Ian D. Hall