MOTOR SISTER
“Get Off”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Motor Sister are a heavy metal/hard rock band from the USA, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Jim Wilson (Mother Superior), guitarist Scott Ian (Anthrax), bassist Joey Vera (Armored Saint), drummer John Tempesta (White Zombie, The Cult), and vocalist Pearl Aday (Pearl). The band was originally formed as a Mother Superior covers band – with Motor Sister’s debut album ‘Ride’ (2015) featuring twelve songs from the Mother Superior back catalogue. Fast forward seven years, and Motor Sister are back with a new album, ‘Get Off’ – a collection of twelve songs…eleven originals and one (Mother Superior) cover.

The band members bring inspiration from various musical backgrounds – hard rock, heavy metal, and thrash – but on ‘Get Off’ you’re not gonna find any thrash, or any real out and out heavy metal. Instead, you’re gonna be hit with a meld of hard ‘n’ heavy rock ‘n’ roll party anthems with hints of the blues, Southern rock and AOR – all perched on the border between the genres of rock and metal, where fans of both styles can enjoy the music…

…all forty two highly energetic and full throttle minutes of it – where only three out of the twelve songs on offer exceed the four minute mark! Simply breathless! ‘Get Off’ is launched skywards with the pulsating and overly energetic ‘Can’t Get High Enough’ – total intoxication descending through the atmosphere. The band are firing on all cylinders delivering ear catching fast and furious rock ‘n’ roll – with a dual vocal assault that is just overwhelming! Motor Sister offering something “different from the norm” – and it’s highly addictive. Picking up the pace and tempo, ‘Coming For You’ is so punchy you’re gonna be knocked into next month! The blues soaked, Southern rocking vocals of Pearl Aday lead the way with this one, the band an avalanche of heavy hitting rock ‘n’ roll. What an opening double salvo of explosive and frenzied hard rock!

With a lot more swagger than either of the two previous songs, ‘Right There, Just Like That’ is a majestic stroll of Southern rock styled, err, rock – reminiscent of old school Aerosmith. When I agreed to review ‘Get Off’, I didn’t know what to expect – I only said yes because of Scott Ian, Joey Vera, and John Tempesta…members of various metal bands I’ve listened to over the last forty years. Yes readers – I’m that old! So you can imagine my surprise when I was hit with a barrage of blistering rock ‘n’ roll – WOWZER! The energy, the oomph, the power – all incredible and thoroughly entertaining. Moving into the realms of melodic rock and AOR, ‘Sooner Or Later’ is lighter than anything heard so far, but lacks none of the albums overall passion. The highly majestic nature of ‘Sooner Or Later’ is infectious, the song standing tall and proud among such legendary bands as Journey, Boston, Kansas, and Foreigner.

Throwing haymakers for fun, the band deliver the punchiest offering so far – ‘Excuse Me, Your Life Is Exposed’ a frantic and fairly furious foray of fast paced party rock ‘n’ roll. The energy level is incredible, with the pizzazz registering new heights! ‘Get Off’ is one of the biggest surprises I’ve heard for many years – and with its unrelenting attitude, forges forth with ‘Lion’s Den’, displaying more groove than any other song on the album. Heavier too, the band lurching more toward metal than rock with this one – yet still managing to remain a step away from fully falling into heavy metal territory. Such restraint from a band that are literally three fifths pure metal! The other two fifths, are rock, and what a sound this mix makes!

With no sign of the pulsating rock ‘n’ roll dissipating, Motor Sister (ahem) motor on with the crunching ‘1,000,000 Miles’ – retaining the groove of the previous song, and increasing the energy to even higher levels. Should the band go on tour in support of this album, are there any venues big enough to cope with – and survive – the enormous amount of electrifying energy this five piece party rock ‘n’ rollers exude! ‘Get Off’ is the exact opposite of the title of the next song – ‘Pain’ the most bluesy and ballad-like song the album has to offer. You can just sense the emotion level is at breaking point, with lighters held high in the air to salute a swaggering, staggering stroll of reined in energy! Is there no style of rock ‘n’ roll this band can’t do? Guess not!

For blistering pace and tempo lights up the album once more with the pounding ‘Bulletproof’, hitting much harder than the massive asteroid that hit Earth sixty six million years ago that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs! Motor Sister are an uncompromising and unstoppable force that when wound up will rock ‘n’ roll for fucking ages. A simply breath taking engine of immense power, the band storm on with my favourite song on the album ‘Bruise It Or Lose It’. The oomph, the oof, and the sheer intensity of the songs bombastic nature is incredible – I defy anyone, no – everyone, to not be head banging right now! And for the first time, the aura of heavy metal makes its presence felt, although ‘Bruise It Or Lose It’ remains a half step away from becoming fully ensconced in the heavy metal genre.

Bringing a full blown party rock atmosphere to the album, the band raucously romp through ‘Time’s Up’ – turning heads and forcing everyone to get up on the dance floor and strut their stuff! The mix of blues, Southern rock, and classic old school rock ‘n’ roll, is perfect, with ‘Time’s Up’ planting smiles a mile wide on the faces of every listener everywhere. ‘Get Off’ comes to a close with a barnstorming cover of ‘Rolling Boy Blues’, by Mother Superior, taken from the bands 2002 fifth album ‘Sin’. Motor Sister remain true to the pace of the original, yet manage to increase the songs beefiness to deliver a ground shuddering version! What an amazing end to an amazing album.

Overall, a riveting ride of raucous rock ‘n’ roll, highly infectious and attractive to fans of both hard rock and heavy metal.

TRACKLIST

Can’t Get High Enough
Coming For You
Right There, Just Like That
Sooner Or Later
Excuse Me, Your Life is Exposed
Lion’s Den
1,000,000 Miles
Pain
Bulletproof
Bruise It Or Lose It
Time’s Up
Rolling Boy Blues

https://motorsister.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/motorsister

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