Twisted Sister - You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll (1983)^{Release ID: 6606}

The 1982 debut studio album from New Jersey five-piece glam metallers Twisted Sister entitled “Under The Blade” was a pleasant surprise for those of us who were old enough to remember the band’s hugely popular hit singles & video clips during the mid-80’s, as it was a legitimate metal album & a pretty decent one at that. It nicely balanced the anthemic heavy metal of Judas Priest with the theatrical hard rock of Alice Cooper & KISS & presented it in a package that was raw enough to appeal to the metal audience. In fact, the album performed so well for the band that they scored a major label record deal with Atlantic for the follow-up “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll” which was released in June 1983.

This time we see Twisted Sister consolidating their already well-defined sound with a cleaner & more powerful production helping to make the overall package that bit more accessible than before. I don’t think it will surprise anyone to hear that this record is full of poppy vocal hooks & that the song-writing style is directed firmly towards presenting them in the most anthemic way possible. It’s simple & fun & shouldn’t be taken too seriously with front man Dee Snider sounding as powerful as he ever has. I know I’ve said it before but I have to reiterate that I really love Dee’s voice. It’s one of the most powerful in all of rock & metal & he’ll always be the clear focal point of a Twisted Sister album with another wonderful performance here. But he’s not the only one to shine with the bigger production & a favourable mix giving bassist Mark Mendoza the chance to really make a name for himself. This production job really does show the competition how to present a bass guitar in a heavy rock context as it’s as punchy & powerful as you’ll find; in fact often out-heavying the dual guitar attack for sheer heaviness. I have to say that the guitar solos do tend to drift past me without making much of an impact though & that’s an area that could have been improved upon in my opinion. But they’re not overly long & the songs are probably memorable enough to cater for it so it’s not a huge concern.

Stylistically this is more of a hard rock record than “Under The Blade” was. There are probably only three songs that I consider to be legitimate heavy metal but there’s still a lot of metal about the approach that the band take to their music so I’m not surprised that most people seem to label it as metal. There are a few duds amongst the ten tracks (particularly the AOR-tinged ballad “You’re Not Alone (Suzette’s Song)” which Dee wrote for his wife) but the weight of the stronger material is solid enough to carry the weaker moments.

If you liked “Under The Blade” or are a fan of the more hard-rockin’ side of heavy metal then you’ll definitely find enough quality to keep your interest. I think “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll” is probably just missing a couple of really epic highlights. The singles here are all a bit simple & don’t tend to be the better tracks on the album. So overall I rate this one fairly similarly to the debut. Neither are essential but both are a good bit of fun. If pushed I’d probably give “Under The Blade” the slight edge due to its stronger metal credentials.