HOLY SHIT! Where the fuck did this come from? For one, I had no idea Dee Snider was releasing an album after the cessation of (the mighty) Twisted Sister. Yet, here we are with a balls-to-the-wall, bonafide loud-as-fuck and obnoxious classic piece of modern Metal! Foot-stomping, fist-smashing, head-banging Metal that leaves most of his contemporaries in this genre for dead and buried!
Yep, it is THAT good!
First listen, I wasn’t in the frame of mind to take it too seriously and initially it felt a little Metal-By-Numbers formulaic American Metal. Yeah it’s ok I thought. Yeah I probably won’t listen to it again.
But I did listen to it again. And second listen in, I was halfway through track one before I was texting my Metal brethren about how good this one is… “Boys, ya gotta check out the new Dee Snider album!”
Half way through track one, Lies Are A Business and I had thrown down the gauntlet and was ripping it hard stomping around my study like a man possessed! FUCK THIS IS AWESOME!
So how did this veteran of theatrical Rock come up with such a Metal album in the first place? The word is that Dee was challenged by Hatebreed main-man Jamey Jasta to record a metal album. And Dee did!
With superb production from Jasta, (this pearler sounds incredible and sonically sublime! None of this brick-walled nonsense!) The kick drums (and they are plentiful!) bounce in your head from one ear to the other.
The Hatebreed inspired breakdowns (my absolute fave part of all their songs) are so fucking good that you’ll be reaching for the old tennis racquet to join in on the fun! Oh man!
Think of what is good about bands like Five Finger Death Punch (I know, I know – you’ll have to think hard but when you think of killer riffs and attitude, those guys have it in spades) and mix it with some killer aforementioned Hatebreedish breakdowns. Add liberal doses of an angry and Metalized Dee Snider and you’ll have some sort of idea of what is on offer here.
There are a few guests sporadically appearing throughout (Howard Jones (ex-Killswitch Engage), Mark Morton (Lamb of God), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Joel Grind and Nick Bellmore (Toxic Holocaust) and Charlie Bellmore (Kingdom of Sorrow) adding their little bit of magic to an already magical slab of power!
Can’t fault it! Will most definitely be in my top 10 albums for 2018!
