Unknown Soldier

Album
Hailing from Long Island as did the Blue Oyster Cult, Twisted Sister would end up being a world away from their more sophisticated and cryptic neighbours, largely thanks to the band’s own basic ‘knuckle sandwich’ approach to metal. Twisted Sister largely thanks to the frontman presence of Dee Snider, would go onto become one of the prime movers for the soon-to-be sensation of the glam metal genre and Twisted Sister along with the likes of both Motley Crue and Quiet Riot would lay the tarmac of that movement down. The band were very much early stylistic pace-setters, in that their brand of ‘glam metal’ differed greatly from the more typical hedonistic androgynous approach of a number of the bands that would form the glam rock movement, for example they didn’t follow the lines of giant acts like Aerosmith, Van Halen or Kiss either. Instead Twisted Sister went in for a far more gharish approach, which was achieved through the use of grotesquely applied make-up in order to get their musical message across. Overall this musical message was in contradiction of their physical image, as Twisted Sister as a band largely went in for what could be termed as ‘real man metal’ as opposed to the sleazy sounding glam of many of their counterparts. Their music would also be tinged with pop anthems, but their potent metal approach made the band one of the hardest hitting from the ‘revived glam era’ of the 1980s. The band had been formed as far back as 1972 and through numerous name changes and various comings and goings of its members, they had finally honed their sound and style down after slugging it out for like a zillion shows. They had also been strongly influenced by British glamsters such as David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Sweet and Slade to name just a few and of course there was that logical New York Dolls influence on the band as well. Having honed their style down to something of a solid freak act they finally made their breakthrough, as did a lot of American bands around this time (late 70s and early 80s) in the UK where they went down a storm thanks to the UK’s recent NWOBHM revolution. Around this time they appeared on the UK music show The Tube to stunning effect, where the presenter presented them as the ‘band that looked like women but played like men’. They soon hooked up with UFO bassist Pete Way another party animal and nutcase to produce their long-awaited debut album Under the Blade. The album was largely a solid if repetitive release, but the in-yer-face songs were there and hit where it mattered. The hard-hitting winners on the album included the addictive album opener “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can’t Hurt You)” which introduced us to Dee Snider’s addictive but sinister vocals and the double guitar team of Eddie Ojeda and Jay Jay French. The Judas Priest inspired “Sin After Sin” which has Dee Snider reaching out for Rob Halford and then there is one of the album’s best in “Shoot ‘Em Down” which sounds like AC/DC in a party mood. Finally there is the album closer the bluesy “Day of the Rocker” which has Dee Snider at times sounding like Jim Morrison. The pop anthems are represented by tracks like “Bad Boys (Of Rock and Roll)” which sounds like a cover of a 1970s glam track, but it’s actually a great original and had it been released a year later it could’ve given the band a big hit when glam rock truly landed and the re-issued “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now”. The muscle tracks are “Run for Your Life” with its driving guitar, the heavy second side opener “Destroyer” and the title track “Under the Blade”. Under the Blade demonstrates all the band’s musical influences, by cleverly drafting these influences and integrating them into their own sound. Overall Under the Blade despite being a potent listen, does suffer though from its regurgitated feel from around its halfway point, but then again Twisted Sister weren’t known for their ability as in-depth songwriters.

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