The Rods – ‘Metal Will Never Die’ (Hear No Evil Recordings/Cherry Red)

The Rods – ‘Metal Will Never Die’ (Hear No Evil Recordings/Cherry Red)

Hot on the heels of High Roller Records’ sensational set of vinyl reissues covering The Rods back catalogue from their 1980 debut right up to their 2011 reunion, this 4CD set from Cherry Red provides a rather poignant addendum to the band’s back story covering as it does the same period in time, albeit from a “live in-concert” perspective.

Formed in 1980 in Cortland New York, The Rods came from an age when sub-genres of rock/metal didn’t really exist, or in fact matter, and if “you rocked” – “you rocked”. As such, mainstays, guitarist and lead vocalist David ‘Rock’ Feinstein (guitarist and lead vocals) and drummer Carl Canedy – who are both still in the band to this very day – along with then bassist Steven Starmer, set out their clear mission statement by naming their excellent debut release ‘Rock Hard’.

Swapping out Stamer, for one Garry Bordonaro, before then being snapped up by Arista Records, who revamped and rejigged their debut and re-released it as a self titled album (set to take the rock world by storm). CD one of ‘Metal Will Never Die’ perfectly captures this fledgling version of the band via a dozen tracks recorded during two shows from 1981 and 1982 in El Paso, Texas.

If you have sampled any of Hear No Evil’s previous “bootleg” box sets from the likes of Riot or Humble Pie, it’s worth noting that that these archive Rods recordings are not finished live albums – like say ‘Live And Dangerous’ or ‘Live After Death’ – nah these recordings are rough ‘n’ ready, warts ‘n’ all, and originate for a variety of different sources, although most importantly they are all fully approved by the band themselves. In fact, you only have to leaf through the excellent 16-page booklet that accompanies this set to find out exactly what they think of the shows in question as David and Carl take you on a whistle-stop tour through their band history.

It’s the second CD that will probably be of most interest to UK based Rods’ fans. Recorded at Portsmouth Guildhall on 8th March 1982, this ten tracker is the band’s setlist from when they were supporting Iron Maiden on the UK leg of their Beast On The Road tour, and I must admit it’s an absolute riot to listen to four decades on. Okay granted the bass drops out during the opening couple of tracks ‘Rockin’ N Rollin’ Again’ and oddly they choose to follow this with ‘Waiting for Tomorrow’, another tune the band had yet to release (they both came from the band’s third album ‘Wild Dogs’), but as soon as the boogie-tastic ‘Get Ready To Rock And Roll’ kicks in everything just seems to click and just as I recall (from seeing them three nights later in Bristol) they really were on fire back then. The quality of this recording sounds (to my ears at least) to be taken from the soundboard and is totally (ahem) ‘In The Raw’. Great stuff!

From this tour onwards there seemed to be missed opportunities alongside each new album and numerous record deals that seemed to promise so much yet ended up providing the band with diminishing returns with each subsequent release. I mean, does anyone remember the ‘Hell On Earth’ UK tour from 1984 that was due to see The Rods play 11 shows alongside Exciter and a then little-known band by the name of Metallica? Nope, well it was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

In the late 80s, with the band slowly becoming disillusioned with their management and record labels they began to drift apart and move on to new musical projects before disappearing from the scene altogether. Feinstein, Bordonaro and Canedy finally being tempted out of their self-imposed hiatus in 2008 to play a few live shows in Europe, and with their success the gig list just grew and grew, CD three showcasing the band at Germany’s Headbangers Festival in July 2009 and CD four boasting a great sounding 2010 home town show.

The Rods quickly followed this 2010 gig with their 2011 album ‘Vengeance’ and ‘Brotherhood Of Metal’ in 2019, and as I mentioned at the top of this review, still continue to this day, albeit as a newly expanded (and Bordonaro-less) four piece with their next studio album ‘Shockwave’ planned for a 2022. In the meantime, you’ve got those aforementioned High Roller vinyl reissues to invest in and of course this box set to enjoy too, this proving that ‘Metal Will Never Die’.

Buy Here

Cherry Red Records

Author: Johnny Hayward

The Rods – ‘Brotherhood Of Metal’ (Steamhammer/SPV)

The Rods – ‘Brotherhood Of Metal’ (Steamhammer/SPV)

Ahh The Rods, now there’s a band name that instantly gets the musical memory banks whirring. To my teenage self way back in 1981 the band’s awesome self-titled debut on Arista was an instant hit on my turntable, and I admit I only went to see Iron Maiden on their Beast On The Road tour to check out the support band.

Yup the New York trio were a veritable whirlwind of great tunes and rock ‘n’ roll attitude long before rock music fractured into multiple genres and forced stereotypes, The Rods were unclassifiable in my eyes as they simply played great hard rocking guitar music just like say Starz, The Godz or The Boyzz in fact all they were missing was a Z to end their name.

It was only when they signed for Music For Nations here in the UK and then pledged an allegiance to all things metal that my interest started to wane and their mid-80s LPs simply didn’t excite me in the same way that their younger contemporaries records did. A planned UK headline tour with Metallica and Exciter in support  which was ultimately cancelled was pretty much the last I heard of the band until 2010 when through the power of Uber Rock and Myspace I suddenly found myself talking with the band’s singer/guitarist David ‘Rock’ Feinstein about their then just about to be released reunion CD ‘Vengeance’.

Fast forward eight years from that album’s eventual release and here I am in possession of the band’s all new eleven track album ‘Brotherhood Of Metal’ (the vinyl adding a twelfth track in the shape of a reworked version of ‘Crank It Up’ originally featured on the aforementioned Arista album plus of course covered by legendary supergroup Super$hit 666), and whilst I normally stay well clear of metal albums these days getting to grips with this one was actually a most welcome surprise.

Okay granted it’s not exactly the sound of my ‘80s first love but it is the same line up of Feinstein, drummer Carl Cannedy and bassist Garry Bordonaro and whilst Dave may be singing slightly lower than he did back then what The Rods do here they do with the utmost of integrity. Even when the record opens with the title track and it’s just piano and Feinstein declaring his love for all things metal it’s somehow not got me reaching for the skip button, and I’m glad I stuck with it too because what follows is the kind of metal record that has seen Judas Priest filling arenas with for decades. Yes, there’s a hint of Manowar in here too, but thank Odin the likes of ‘Hell On Earth’ and ‘Tonight We Rode’ remind me of their early (as in the best) days, and you also can’t really do a Rods review without mentioning Feinstein’s cousin Ronnie James Dio, although I’m purely mentioning him here because the riff to ‘Louder Than Loud’ sounds so much like primetime Dio I have to check that my MP3 player hasn’t suddenly gone on shuffle by mistake.

It’s the powerhouse drumming of Carl Cannedy that introduces both the epic ‘Evil In Me’ and the autobiographical ‘1982’ and here the band once again capture that metallic stomp of Priest, likewise ‘The Devil Made Me Do it’ and the staggeringly brilliant ‘Eveybody’s Rockin’’ could very easily fit in on ‘Screaming For Vengeance’ or Defenders Of The Faith’ such is the high standard of the metal on offer here.

‘Brotherhood Of Metal’ then is the sound of The Rods doing what they love, and as Cannedy himself states what you get here is “no ballads, and nothing your mom will be humming”.

 

Buy Brotherhood Of Metal Here

Author: Johnny Hayward