TWISTED SISTER – Under The Blade [Remix ’85 Demolition Records remastered +1]

After the recent TWISTER SISTER release of You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll 2-CD remaster featured here, one of you requested the band’s first album “Under The Blade” in its two versions, the original 1982 and the remixed 1985, both in its remastered reissue. And both are an essential listen for ’80s hard rock / metal fans.
Here’s “Under The Blade” remixed version appeared in 1985 via Atlantic Rec., in its out of print, hard to find remastered release by Demolition Records, being sold at Amazon for 541 Euros (!)

The original 1982 Secret Records mix of this “Under The Blade” was raw and heavy, like a bulldozer with a singer and sense of rhythm. Secret Records folded and Atlantic re-released the album in ’85 with a remix helmed by the band’s bass player Mark “The Animal” Mendoza.
For added measure they added Twisted’s first single, “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!”, not present in the ’82 release, as a bonus track.

Although less so in its remixed for, “Under The Blade” served as a brutal reminder that Twisted Sister were and are a metal band, before the MTV hits happened. No ballads, the only slow moment is the intro to “Run For Your Life” which soon hits the gas and takes off at breakneck speed.

Like a cross between early Kiss, Alice Cooper, and Judas Priest, “Under The Blade” was an aural assault. The assault was assisted by a brutally ragtag heavy production and mix, frayed at the edges and certainly way too heavy for kiddies weaned on autotune today.
Elsewhere, more melodic fare like “Bad Boys (of Rock and Roll)” and “Shoot ‘Em Down” plot the way for the more commercial years about to unfold.

But in 1985, Twisted Sister was already a big selling band, with a commercial and polished sound, and the re-release of “Under The Blade” needed a remix.
The classic ‘reverb’ from the mid ’80s was added to all drums and cymbals, the guitars are less cutting but more ‘clean stinging’, and the backing vocals layered into a ‘gang mode’. In short, it sounds like they were trying to make “Under The Blade” fit in more with the ‘Stay Hungry’ sound. And it works greatly.

While I really like the raw sound of the original release, this ’85 remix is superb, bright an crisp, the Eighties sonic output we all love. It has a revised cover artwork, and it’s a plus the inclusion of “I’ll Never Grow Up, Now!”, one of my favorite Twisted sister tracks of all time.
This Demolition Records remaster is excellent for my tastes, adding a lot of ‘air’. As said, it’s almost impossible to find, or be prepared to pay a ridiculous price for a copy.
A Mandatory listen for all hard rockers out there.

You’ve seen it first here, at 0dayrox

01 – What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)
02 – Bad Boys (Of Rock ‘n’ Roll)
03 – Run For Your Life
04 – Sin After Sin
05 – Shoot ’em Down
06 – Destroyer
07 – Under The Blade
08 – Tear It Lose
09 – Day Of The Rocker
10 – I’ll Never Grow Up Now! [extra track / bonus]

Dee Snider – lead vocals
Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda – guitar, backing vocals
Jay Jay French – guitar, backing vocals
Mark “The Animal” Mendoza – bass, backing vocals
A. J. Pero – drums, percussion
Tony Petri – drums (track 10)

BUY IT !
www.amazon.de/Under-Blade-Twisted-Sister/dp/B01KBIFKKA
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