by Greg Prato

In the metal community, there are two veteran/legendary bands that, whenever they release a new album, you know pretty much what you're going to get. We're talkin' 'bout AC/DC and Motörhead, of course. While the former band now takes several years between albums, the latter cranks them out on a much more frequent basis, as evidenced by the arrival of 2006's Kiss of Death (which arrived barely over two years since 2004's Inferno). The fact that the hard-living group is still at it is an astonishing feat unto itself, but when you realize they're still keeping pace with the younger acts -- when it comes to touring and recording -- it's even more impressive. As expected, Kiss of Death contains quite a few new numbers that will sound right at home in the set list, nuzzled between "Ace of Spades" and "Overkill," including the album-opening "Sucker," as well as "One Night Stand" and "Christine." And following in the footsteps of the surprise acoustic ditty on their previous album, "Whorehouse Blues," comes another similarly styled track, "God Was Never on Your Side." Yet, overall, there are too many songs that sound like run-of-the-mill modern-day metal (such as "Living in the Past" and "Sword of Glory"), rather than the classic Motörhead sound you'd expect. Still, a mostly good Motörhead album like Kiss of Death easily manages to slay most of the fly-by-night foolers that are currently being showcased on the airwaves.