Band:	The Rods
Album:	Rattle The Cage
Style:	Heavy metal, US power metal
Release date:	January 19, 2024
A review by:	X-Ray Rod

01. Now And Forever
02. Wolves At The Door
03. Cry Out Loud
04. Rattle The Cage
05. Can't Slow Down
06. Metal Highways
07. Hell Or High Water
08. Play It Loud
09. Shockwave
10. Hearts Of Steel

Turning 45 years old as a band must be celebrated, especially when 2 out of 3 members have been there since day one. While The Rods are neither reinventing themselves nor surpassing their classic cuts, it’s still serviceable heavy metal.

The reason I’m writing this review is exactly the one that you thought (thanks, Radu). Band name aside, he had a point by requesting a review from a music genre I do not often partake in. I rarely touch most stuff in the vicinity of heavy metal, hard rock and power metal, but lately we’ve had several old bands making a comeback, allowing people like me to dive into their discographies for the first time. That’s exactly what I did with The Rods.

I was surprised at how early The Rods started releasing albums. Hell, David Feinstein was already performing in the 70s, participating on Elf’s debut album alongside his cousin, Dio. From their debut Rock Hard / The Rods (released both in 1980 and 1981 under different names due to copyrights) through to 1986’s Heavier Than Thou, The Rods were pumping out albums on a 1-2 year basis. They were more of a hard rock act in the vein of AC/DC and KISS at first, albeit with a far more aggressive vibe by comparison (but not near heavy metal territory just yet). 1982’s punchy Wild Dogs is a highlight of this period, with the Cerberus remaining a part of their image even today, but it was Heavier Than Thou’s take on the US style of power metal that really got my attention, as it was well mixed with their hard rock identity.

It was with that frame of mind I began to listen to their last couple of albums, released after a 25-year-long pause. Unfortunately for me, most of the US power metal influences from Heavier Than Thou were gone, and The Rods had gone back to a more basic form of mid-tempo hard rock / heavy metal. I find no flaws in their performance though; Feinstein’s voice has aged well, and his riffs/solos are filled with confidence. The bluesy tones of tracks like “Can’t Slow Down” are welcomed in this sense. I guess my main gripe is the production which is way too modern for its own good. While it does provide the bass with a powerful tone and the drumming with proper loudness, it takes away some of the bite force from the songs, as they sound too clean. This is even more noticeable when most of the songs are mid-tempo and not particularly aggressive. The album suffers from unadventurous songwriting; this is exemplified by the album’s longest song, “Cry Out Loud”, an arena-anthem song with some ballad sensibilities, which is in dire need of variation and has no business being over 7 minutes long.

As much as I would like a band named The Rods to be nothing short of brilliant, Rattle The Cage doesn’t do much more than the bare necessities for me. But hey, at least I discovered Wild Dogs and Heavier Than Thou. Now let’s hope the band rediscovers those albums too.