The days that the fans of Twisted Sister were expecting a new album, are long gone. Through the years, the criticism on Dee Snider got nasty. First of all, there was his unexpected decision to perform at a Trump party and second, the extreme amount of money he asked from the fans for the meet & greet passes at the Twister Sister shows. To tell you the truth I thought that until recently he had nothing to do with the metal culture and especially the defiant and anarchic character we thought he was. Nonetheless, he released three “just ok” albums in 18 years which I thought he only did in order to stay in the spotlight a little bit longer, but nothing worth listening to. On the other hand, “For The Love Of Metal” is the album that I never thought he would release.
Many of the songs included are obviously influenced by the nu metal music scene and they have nothing to do with the Twisted Sister sound. They are mostly oriented in the Widowmaker (Dee’s band in the 90s) era.
Members of Disturbed, Lamb Of God, and Killswitch Engaged have participated in the making of this record. Howard Jones (ex-Killswitch Engage) and Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy are only a few of the people involved. Every record company was dying to release it but the winner was Napalm Records. The main inspirer of this “passion project”, as Dee likes to call it in many interviews, is Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed.
“Lies Are A Business” is my top favorite with an exceptional Maiden riff mixed with thrash atittude. “Mask” is also a great moment in the album with an extra modern vibe and Dee’s unique vocals. “Become The Storm” is the video clip and I really think it’s a great hit that can be characterized as the new “We’re Not Gonna Take It” especially because of its lyrics.
As a whole it left me with a bitter sweet taste. Sweet cause it was much better than I expected considering Dee’s music progress, but also bitter, cause Dee Snider is really not the man behind this project. Ofcourse I definitely suggest that you listen to it if you are mostly fans of the nu metal sound, but don’t except anything like Twisted Sister.
