Dee is back and he sounds angry, be afraid, very afraid! This album follows on from Dee’s last album ‘For The Love Of Metal’ released in 2018 and is once again produced by Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed fame. After the demise of Twisted Sister you would have forgiven Dee if he had disappeared off to live a quiet life, but that has never been his style and on this album he is back larger than life and ready to take on all comers!

The aptly titled ‘I Gotta Rock (Again)’ literally explodes from the speakers with Dee spitting out the lyrics with venom and leaving you in no doubt he still means business. ‘All Or Nothing‘ follows which could be Dee’s theme tune, if you have ever seen him commanding a stage you will know exactly what I mean.

This is a heavy album, don’t expect to find a chart bothering rock hit lurking amongst the tracks, this is pure metal from start to finish with Jasta’s hardcore influence shining through on several of the tracks. ‘Down But Never Out’ is a good example of this with huge riffs and a bombastic rhythm section accompanied by a NYHC choir supplying the gruff backing vocals.

The guys slow things down a tad with the menacing ‘Before I Go’ which has a soaring chorus and proves that Dee’s vocal delivery is a good as ever. ‘Open Season’ is a straightforward metal track with some excellent guitar work from Charlie Bellmore and Nick Petrino whilst ‘Silent Battles’ deals with mental struggles which is more relevant now than ever.

Of the other tracks the stand outs are the brutal ‘Time To Choose’, complete with George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher from Cannibal Corpse on backing vocals, the fast and furious ‘The Reckoning’ which sounds like Anthrax at their best and ‘The Stand‘ which is the big ballad of the piece and closes what is a great album.

Dee may be collecting his pension now, but he is more than happy to grow old disgracefully and has released one of the heaviest albums of his career. He may have a few scars which run deep after so many years in the music business, but this album goes to prove that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and Dee’s just gotta rock!  ****

Review by Dave Wilson