For The Love Of Metal
There is something undeniably special about live music. With live albums, despite not being there in the crowd, turn it up loud enough and the energy is somehow transferred through your speakers and you get a similar buzz. Dee Snider’s ‘For The Love of Metal’ didn’t do that to me. No, you turn ‘For The Love Of Metal’ up loud enough and you’re in the pit with 10,000 others, moshing and head banging ‘till the cows come home.
I saw Dee Snider a few years ago and there is something so balls out rock and roll in his delivery. Opening up with ‘Lies are a Business’ a track from his latest album, he hits the ground running and proceeds to turn it up to 11! Tastes of early Maiden with a healthy dose of thrash thrown in for good measure. This is guaranteed to get you going. And Dee Snider doesn’t relent, right through to the end of the album.
‘Tomorrows No Concern’ is a great track, all about living in the moment and not worrying too much about the future. Those chugging guitars are ferocious and the drums and bass are insane. The more I listen, the more I want to be there! The album thunders through, ‘You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll’ resonating particularly well in these strange times. Rock will live on and this is our glorious leader.
There’s a good mix of new and old songs too, a great rendition of ‘The Beast’, then it’s straight back to the new stuff, ‘American Made’ which is every bit as good as the early stuff. Then ‘Under The Blade’, the third song that Dee wrote for Twisted, it sounds epic. Even better than the original. Much heavier!
I love ‘Become The Storm’, such a great song. It’s a real metal anthem, taken from the last solo record. Every bit as anthemic as the next track, ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’. Dee Snider then AND now certainly knows how to deliver a class metal anthem! He then takes his ‘in ears’ out and gets the audience to scream that chorus, what a moment. I was screaming away in my living room!
Of course, ‘I Wanna Rock’ is exceptional, coming just after ‘Burn in Hell’, a full on seven minute epic! He quickly introduces his band, and included is a little dig about him not wasting any time because he is an ‘opening act’, I wonder if there was a need to include that little dig? He absolutely blows the proverbial roof off the Bloodstock festival and we all know he should have headlined. Andy over at Maximum Volume Music summed up Dee’s performance perfectly saying “And Dee Snider is [artist] of the day by quite some distance.” I have got to agree.
‘For the Love Of Metal’ is up next, the title track on the last album and I love it. Then the ultimate metal anthem. ‘Highway to Hell’. As a huge AC/DC fan as I know Dee is, I love seeing him do this one. Taken from the Bloodstock set, it was his final song, you think it’s the end, but than an extra little treat, four more bonus songs, ‘Ready to Fall’ from Dee’s band Widow Maker – I have to check them out, what a great song, then ‘The Fire Still Burns’, ‘Roll Over You Live’ and ‘Prove Me Wrong’.
What an outstanding album. Like I said, I love live albums and this one felt like you were actually there! Truly outstanding! Thank you, Dee Snider, for delivering an all out metal live album that came at the perfect time.
Released by: Napalm Records
Release Date: 31st July 2020
