If you grew up in the 80s as I did, you were inundated by certain music videos and two of them were “I Wanna Rock” and “We’re Not Gonna Take it.” And through my entire life this is all I’ve known of this band, aside from Dee Snyder testifying before congress, which definitely upped my respect level.

I never liked either of those songs and I figured that was basically Twisted Sister and I didn’t need to know any more. So I am surprised to hear this debut album, which sometimes sounds like a different band.

This record is considerably more NWOBHM-influenced than just about any other “glam metal” / “hair metal” record I’ve heard. In fact, for this record anyway, the hair metal tag appears somewhat lazy. It’s not that this is actually the American version of NWOBHM, but that it was clearly made under that genre’s influence to such a degree that a band I thought I would hate sounds almost fresh. It’s basically American hard rock / arena rock plus NWOBHM. In some ways, this version of Twisted Sister as like a Glammier of contemporary Judas Priest with worse lyrics and far less capable lead singer.

So, though this is not my kind of thing – it’s too dumb, it’s too one=note – I find myself being surprised that it is as good as it is and it has more of an edge than I ever would have guessed.

6/10

All tracks written by Dee Snider.

1. “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)” 4:45
2. “Bad Boys (of Rock ‘n’ Roll)” 3:20
3. “Run for Your Life” 3:28
4. “Sin After Sin” 3:23
5. “Shoot ‘Em Down” 3:53
6. “Destroyer” 4:16
7. “Under the Blade” 4:40
8. “Tear It Loose” 3:08
9. “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now” (1985 Atlantic re-issue only) 4:27
10. “Day of the Rocker”