Dee Snider – We Are The Ones

[nyrating]

31st October 2016 Thomas Nielsen Album Reviews 0

First of all, I am amazed how young Dee Snider sounds. The guy’s been the singer of Twisted Sister for 40 years, for crying out loud! If you listen to a song like Crazy for Nothing from his new and third solo album, ‘We Are The Ones’, I think you’d agree that he sounds like a man half his age. Incredible how he’s been able to keep his body and voice fit.

That said, this is an album that isn’t without flaws.

It starts out really well with the title track of the album. It’s basically a Twisted Sister rocker as we’d expect it. Good one. Next track, Over Again, is also a great rocking tune, but it actually reminds me of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I expected.

Close to You, the third tune, is on the other hand an odd pop rock tune that’s not going anywhere. Better with Rule the World after that, but it’s not quite striking the epic bombast that it seems to be striving for.

Now, We’re Not Gonna Take It is of course an immortal tune. Anyone who was around during the 80s and had a telly or a radio knows it. The question remains if we need a new version of this fantastic artefact? The question remains if it’s suited for being elevated to being a far too serious song exposed to only Dee’s voice and a piano? I’m not really convinced.

Crazy for Nothing I already mentioned; Snider sounds like a young god. The song is modern punk-rock-ish. It’s alright. Believe is like any modern radio pop rock tune out there right now. Not impressive.

With the cover of Nine Inch Nails’ Head Like A Hole, Snider finally brings out an intensity that you’ve come to long for until now. Why does it take a cover that to come about, I wonder? None the less, it disappears again with Superhero, another rather trivial rock song.

So What concludes the album, and that’s exactly the question I’m left with. Albeit this is one of the three good songs of the album with a slight touch of Pink Floyd, it can’t save an album that really doesn’t add up to the abilities of a great singer and entertainer like Dee Snider. This could have been so much better, methinks.

Track listing:
01. We Are The Ones
02. Over Again
03. Close To You
04. Rule the World
05. We’re Not Gonna Take It
06. Crazy For Nothing
07. Believe
08. Head Like A Hole
09. Superhero
10. So What

Release date: 21st of October, 2016

Playing time: 36 minutes

Label: ear music

Website: www.deesnider.com

About Thomas Nielsen 1051 Articles

When my old buddy Kenn Jensen asked me if I wanted to contribute to the new site he had created, then called powermetal.dk, I didn't hesitate. My love for metal music was and is great. I wrote my first review during the summer of 2004 (Moonspell's 'Antidote' album). In 2015, I took over the editor-in-chief role.