TWISTED SISTER – Live At The Astoria

With Twisted Sister there is something truly amazing; even though the band has released six studio albums (the A Twisted Christmas does not actually count) and was formed somewhere in the early 80s, they still remain and play an important part in Metal history.

The band reunited in the late of 2001 and got on the road serving some really hearty and sweaty live shows. It is strange but the band, despite the additional body weight (not for Dee though), still kicks major ass on-stage. It is also kind of sad that we don’t get these kind of bands in the Metal scene anymore making those who believe that ”Heavy Metal is dead” looking confident that they could be right.

Well, this live recorded DVD, and accompanying CD, package sees the light of the day after four years for unknown reasons. Twisted Sister returned to the UK, after more than a decade, and produced a DVD, that it is clear from the very beginning that captures the band’s Rock ‘n’ Roll attitude we all admire back in the days.

The Sisters enter with “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)” in a packed club with an in-your-face electrifying energy. The lights help to build the tension that bursts out though the dominating figure of Dee Snider. The rest of the band gets carried away by his stormy presence and join him in an almost vintage concert. The British Metalheads are completely synchronized with all those things happening on-stage and play their live part by screaming and singing as loud as they can. All the ‘old timers’ and die hard fans will enjoy the posing and the atmosphere during “Under The Blade” and the ultra heavy and mean “Destroyer” that comes from the band’s debut.

The direction is dynamic enough to get the viewer somewhere in the front rows while the sound is fat, dirty and raw giving a genuine taste of Twisted Sister’s ‘outrageous’ attitude and looks (at least for the 80s). Of course, the 16 track setlist features all the ‘hits’ from the fist raising “I Wanna Rock,” the addictive “I Am, I Am Me,” the groovy and kind of mainstream “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and the sing-along “Ride To Live” among others. It almost guaranteed that the energy flow from the TV speakers and screen will bring shivers down one’s spine who will stop just the foot taping and get into headbanging!

Dee is not wasting concert time (well not too much) by giving long and useless speeches between the tracks and just leaves the music to do the talking. The only ‘speaking’ break is the part where Dee introduces the band members saying some honest things about them just before the “S.M.F.” explosion that gloriously ends this energetic concert.

Some might think that it is time for Twisted sister to stop releasing compilations, live DVDs and similar stuff and get down to write a new album. But, think for a moment do the fans actually need something like this? Or do the fans prefer to keep the fire burning as it was keeping the flavor we once loved?

PS: OK, the DVD should contain some bonus material apart from the CD that simply comprises the audio version of the concert. There is a total turn off when Dee talks about a record label and the names are just censored…