Review MOTOR SISTER ‘Get Off’

Motor Sister is a project that start with Scott Ian’s passion for a hard rock band called Mother Superior. The band disbanded in 2011 and the reunion of the band with him joining this event was Ian’s 50^th birthday wish. Long story short, Mother Superior singer/guitarist Jim Wilson was thrilled about the idea, and it was on December 31^st, 2013 when Mother Sister played together at Ian’s home. The line-up was completed by now less than Joey Vera (Armored Saint, Fates Warning), John Tempesta (The Cult, ex-White Zombie) and Ian’s wife Pearl Aday. What was planned as a one-time only party event became bigger than initially expected.

With Metal Blade being excited, the label offered a contract and the twelve songs played at Ian’s place have been recorded and released as ‘Ride’. Mother Sister was always a side-project, and everybody involved also had a lot of other commitments to life up to. Still, it was possible for the guys to play a few live shows in the US although a second album wasn’t something on the to-do list.

Well, things sometimes turn out to be different than planned. In autumn 2018 Motor Sister started with plans for the sophomore release, this time with own songs. The debut contains the cover versions and now it’s time for own tunes. The pandemic cleaned the agendas of everybody involved and at the same time cause some delays due to the known hurdles.

Motor Sister overcame all the hurdles and put the finishing touch to ‘Get Off’, the second album that is now at the record stores.

As with ‘Ride’ also ‘Get Off’ offers wild and untamed hard rock. Joey Vera and John Tempesta provide a solid groove for each of the songs, the heartbeat of rock’n’roll. Listening to songs like ‘Excuse Me, Your Life is Exposed’ also features the typical Scott Ian riffing, this time in a hard rock context. ‘Bulletproof’ is a thundering highlight on ‘Get Off’ while ‘Time’s Up’ entails a lot of ‘70s rock the Detroit-style. The passion for blues finds an outlet with tracks like ‘Rolling Boy Blues’ and with ‘Sooner or Later’ the album entails a melodic rocking song with airplay potential. Without being a ballad, the song is an emotional and calmer moment on the album and adds to the good flow of the songs on ‘Get Off’.

It was a great idea of the guys to not stop after having unleashed ‘Ride’. Motor Sister offer with ‘Get Off’ a stellar ode to hard rock and the album belongs to the best the genre has brought to surface in a while.