Dee Snider – We Are The Ones

Voluminous. Volcanic. Voluptuous. Vital: all these adjectives and more encapsulate what Dee Snider has delivered

with his latest outing, We Are The Ones. A volume of veritable variance that venerates its implacable ruthlessness from the moment its opening eponymous track explodes.

In short, and without the somewhat flowery verisimilitude: Damn, this is one hell of an album! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry but most all you’ll wonder what’s hit you once the last track fades into the ether!

For those fortunate to have caught Snider on his recent tour with Twisted Sister, it will come as no surprise that the man is still wired, still nuts and still angry. With We Are The Ones, however, it’s as though he’s been something of a naughty boy that’s only now been released from the confines of his bedroom and hell bent on wreaking havoc.

Over Again is destined for greatness in the live arena. It’s metronomic guitar, the thumping bass and drums and, of course, the virally catchy lyric hook guarantee this track to be heard sooner rather late on some soundtrack or other. For now though, just try to resist the temptation to break out the air guitar and see how easily you fail.

Close To You is an altogether different animal. Haunting and deeply unsettling, Snider’s vocals are borderline Cooper at his scary man height or Grohl at his most dynamic; the lyrics becoming at once sentient and intimidating, as though a stalker is vocalising his innermost insecurities through the amps.

There are lesser tracks, for sure. Rule The World could well have been penned by Europe or, dare it be said, Nickelback. This said, however, it still has a certain something to commend it. In this case it is Snider’s belief in himself and his music that truly shines; this and the fact that he never takes either too seriously too much of the time. Superhero is more of the same as far as eighties cheese is concerned, but for each schmaltz-fest of a track there are two or more out-and-out stormers.

Head Like A Hole is nothing short of  Rock dynamite, its riffs cutting through with chainsaw lethality, whereas the TS classic We’re Not Gonna Take It is here charged with even more potent energy than when originally released in 1984. A classic of its lycra-clad, make up strewn epoch, here is a track that’s been stripped of its instrumental electricity only to be freshly invigorated by the man’s sensationally impassioned voice all underscored with a pounding piano soundtrack. If this is not reason enough to buy this album, stop reading because, quite honestly, there isn’t a better reason coming anytime soon.

Okay, yes there is: the closing, beautifully crafted, pain-riddled, frustration soaked So What. A mini-opera of angst filled rhetoric that really shouldn’t captivate so much but, due in no small part to its outsider-looking-in motif – and the deliciously arranged strings that lay beneath its ranting, enraged lyrics – this is the stand out track of the collective, but only by a nose. We Are The Ones is the sum of its parts and will, without doubt, be one of those albums you find yourself reaching for like an old friend.

Track List:

We Are The Ones

Over Again

Close To You

Rule The World

We’re Not Gonna Take It (2016, Accoustic Recording)

Crazy For Nothing

Believe

Head Like A Hole

Superhero

So What