Twisted Sister - Under the Blade Special Edition

Armoury Records
2011

This just might be the holy grail of reissues. This package has the works. On the heels of Armoury Records 25th anniversary edition of Stay Hungry (which in and of itself was amazing) now we get the royal treatment with Under The Blade. Seeing as Armoury Records had been re-releasing Twisted Sister's back catalog you knew if was only a matter of time until this bad boy dropped and sure enough they saved the best for last! Despite the fact that Twisted Sister seem dead set to ignore this release (one which many fans including yours truly believe to be their shinning achievement!) Under The Blade is a landmark album that took far to long to unleash upon the masses! It is hard to imagine that Twisted Sister spent years tolling away in clubs and that it took going to Europe to get the ball rolling. Granted Twisted Sister would have fit right in with the hard and heavy style of rock that was all the rage in the early 80s in Europe. Having just recently played this classic on my record player (vinyl isn't dead boys and girls) I was thankful that this CD release captures the power that was felt on said record. Wearing their influences on their sleeves at the time "What You Don't Know" is pure Alice Cooper. "Bad Boys" is part AC/DC while "Sin After Sin" is Judas Priest. How fitting is it that Motorhead would choose to cover "Shoot 'Em Down" later on when the song owes so much to Lemmy and company! This was a band that grew up on these bands and more (New York Dolls, Kiss, Black Sabbath and the sort) and took what they could from the masters like any great student. They crafted an album that has been a hard rock stable since day one. What Armoury Records has done is take that masterpiece, dusted it off, touched it up and added to it. Including the original Ruff Cut EP is in and of itself one thing (seeing as it is the 1st time it has seen release on CD if I'm not mistaken) but a bonus DVD that has their 1982 Reading Festival? Simply a stroke of pure genius. The tacked on interviews are priceless as well. Hearing some of these stories well....let's just say you need to check it out for yourself! If you thought Dee Snider and the Sisters were crazy before you haven't seen anything yet! Bottom line is this Special Edition CD & DVD is a MUST BUY for Twisted Sister fans! Now I know how Indy must have felt when he saw the Ark for the first time!