Review THE RODS ‘Rattle the Cage’

The Rods are a band with a history that goes back to the beginning of the 80s and still their discography isn’t too long. The debut album ‘Rock Hard’ was presented in 1980 and a few additional releases helped to establish the band before the first era of The Rods came to an end in 1987.

It was in 2010 when the band found some new common ground and into a new phase. ‘Vengeance’ was the first release after the band’s reunion and ‘Rattle the Cage’ is the title of their newest effort.

Driven by founding members of the very beginning, David ‘Rock’ Feinstein and Carl Canedy, the band releases an album that sound powerful and strong. With Freddy Villano on base, the trio also found a heartbeat-providing bassplayer in 2020 and after having been part of a few single releases, the newest longplayer is the first one that showcases his talent.

‘Rattle the Cage’ features traditional heavy metal and I don’t think that anybody has expected something different. The good thing is, that oldschool doesn’t mean old-fashioned in this context. The Rods sound heavy and very dynamic on their newest release which has to do with the very solid production but also the versatility mirrored by the songs.

There is the title track with a grooving rock’n’roll vibe next to the thumping and mystic ‘Cry Out Loud’. The latter reminds of Ronnie James Dio, Feinstein’s cousin, but also some of the hymnic Manowar moments are embedded.

‘Can’t Slow Down’ has its Dio-moment too before we enter the ‘Metal Highways’ with full speed. No brakes and the pedal to the metal, that is the approach of the speedy metal track. A drum solo kicks off ‘Shockwave’ which is another up-tempo metal track before the snappy heartbeat of ‘hearts of Steel’ heralds the final chapter of this record.

The Rods unleash with ‘Rattle the Cage’ a superb heavy metal album that belongs to the best ones the band delivered to date. These ten songs are a delight for headbangers and who’s musical imprint happened in the 80s will have fun listening to this riff attack.