THE RODS – Rattle The Cage
Origin: Cortland / USA
Release: 19.01.2024
Label: Massacre Records
Duration: 47:50
Genre: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Photo Credit: Roger William Theise
What do you expect from a new album? THE RODS? I think that, without exception, every listener who has the 1980s masterpieces in their record cabinet has nothing other than a typical one THE RODS would like to have an album.
That’s why we can expect exactly what the band promises: no musical changes, no pandering, no artificial facelift. On the tenth studio album, if you exclude the live discs, there is established heavy metal that fans of metal and hard rock will immediately feel at home with.
What they have always done best
Already the opener Now and Forever is a statement where the band sees itself. THE RODS do not take a step back from their current course. Musically there is a fast pace that sounds fresh, even if the keyboard playing in the background sounds like it’s from the 1970s Deep Purple-Exude sound. What also remains are the simple texts. Just a look at the title of the album reveals easily digestible and understandable concerns. For some, the lyrics are probably too flat, because the words about freedom, metal and cohesion have been mentioned many times in the genre.
That’s why you have an ear for the clean sound, and then the fast one Wolves at the Door and the long, hymn-like one Cry Out Loud presents. The last song in particular has a lot of atmosphere and is audibly shined by the new man Freddy Villano on bass and of course offers a nice solo from Herr Feinstein on the guitar. Rattle the Cage is then another fast, rocking number. The title song, on the other hand, is more of a solid rock ‘n’ roll number than an attempt to break out of the existing musical pattern. But which band can have a template like that? Rattle the Cage as an album title to be missed.
Still feels like it’s the 1980s
You had it with the one mentioned above Cry Out Loud already a shot Manowar-Feeling from the 1990s in your ear, then bring us THE RODS at Can’t Slow Down continue back to your own roots and cross it with a touch Mötley Crüe. Rattle the Cage continues with faster songs like Metal Highways and Shockwave. Mid-tempo rockers are included in between. Such a masher is the familiar one Ronnie James Dio sounding Hell or High Water. The riff has what it takes to stay in your ear and the keyboard mutates into a Hammond organ. Also Play it Loudwhich you HERE As you can hear, the chorus sounds like a reference throughout KISS.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter that everything here sounds like it did forty years ago. That’s how metal grew up and that’s how we learned to love it. The bouncer is called Hearts of Steel and not only does the title serve all the genre keywords one last time. Between tried and tested phrases like Black Clouds, Free Will and Hearts of Steel Every metalhead can shake their hair once more before the whopping three quarters of an hour of traditional metal comes to an end.
Conclusion
Anyone who listens to THE RODS does not expect innovation, but rather a clean continuation of the path they have taken so far. That’s why all believers in metal get an entertaining, if backwards, look at the 1980s with Rattle The Cage. The record immediately sounds familiar and is thoroughly enjoyable for traditionalists. 8/10
Line Up
David Rock Feinstein – vocals, guitars
Carl Canedy – drums
Freddy Villano – Bass
Tracklist
01. Now and Forever
02. Wolves at the Door
03. Cry Out Loud
04. Rattle the Cage
05. Can’t Slow Down
06. Metal Highways
07. Hell or High Water
08. Play it Loud
09. Shockwave
10. Hearts of Steel
Links
THE RODS website
Facebook THE RODS
Instagram THE RODS
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