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Twisted Sister came screaming
out of the New York bar scene in the late 70’s combining back
alley angst with blues based rock creating a formula that began
a rebellious mentality among youth everywhere. With the singles
“I wanna
Rock” and “Were not gonna take it” they exploded onto
radio and the recently birthed MTV, giving them the needed
exposure to sell out venues all over the world. This album is a
solid statement verifying the bands place in rock history.
Instead of being based on album sales, this tribute was created
instead to recognize the Twisted Ones for their part in paving
the way for a new revolution in Rock culture.
This album has shown the music’s
longevity as some of the industry’s biggest performers come
together to create this tribute to the now legendary Twisted
Sister. This album serves to give us an idea of what incredible
music lay hidden behind the layers of makeup worn by this long
Island band, as well as showcasing some of the best talent
ruling rock music today, each who offer up their unique
interpretation behind the music. What an unlikely crew of talent
inspired and brought together by the same music from the past.
Some of the more notable tracks on the
album were from the recent favorites Lit with a faithful remake
of the simple original, “I wanna Rock”. This is a faster,
more pop flavored version of the song complete with all of the
hook laden
style that made it a part of Rock history. This is followed up
with the mighty Motorhead doing “Shoot em Down”, bringing
their heavier thrash influence. Next the underground’s
Nashville Pussy, with “The Kids are Back” throwing in their
growling vocals they added a different approach to recreating
the old sound.
Throwing in a softer twist is the band
Nine Days with “The Price” adding a beautiful melody to this
classic. This followed with the mix of Public Enemy’s Chuck D
with “Wake up the sleeping Giant”, with its rap laden
influence this shows the true variety of this compilation.
Another great cover off this tribute is by
the immortal Anthrax with “Destroyer”. These heavy metal
heroes add their thundering sound to this already heavy song.
Overkill goes “Under the Blade”, and Britain’s Cradle of
Filth overheats with “the fire still burns” in an excellent
example of black metal
meets old school thrash.
The ending tracks are some of the
strongest with The Step Kings and “Burn in hell” expertly
delivered, Fu Manchu with the hell bent “Ride to Live”, they
took this song and made it their own. These rockers were
followed up with a somewhat sappy version of “Were not gonna
take it” by Joan Jett. This songster is one of my long time
favorites, but she has a hard time catching the tone and spirit
of this song.
This followed by Sebastian Bach’s
rendition of “Cant stop Rock and Roll” and Hammerfall with
“were gonna make it“ who deliver perfectly that classic 80’s
thrash metal sound. Next is Sevendust who pay their TS respects
with their punk version on “I am me”.
The last track, and in my opinion the best
on this compilation is Twisted Sister with their own tribute to
AC/DC, paying homage to Las Vegas in their classic “Sin City“,
delivered like only these rock gods can.
With all the tributes and compilations
recently being released I think Twisted Forever is easily one of
the most twisted and memorable compilations out this year. It
proves to us all once again that you can’t stop Rock and Roll.
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