Guitarist and lead singer David “Rock” Feinstein first came to notice when he was asked by his cousin Ronnie James Dio to join Ronnie Dio and the Prophets, who became the Electric Elves, then Elves, before finally settling on Elf and coming to the attention of Ritchie Blackmore. Feinstein soon decided to form his own band with drummer Carl Canedy and bassist Steve Starmer and The Rods were born. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since their debut, ‘Rock Hard, was released in 1980, and there have been long periods of inactivity, but in recent years the band have been quite active, with Feinstein and Canedy joined these days by bassist Freddy Villano who joined in 2020 and played on their last album, 2023’s ‘Rattle The Cage’.
The Rods are a band I have long been aware of, primarily due to the Dio connection, but this is the first time I have sat down and listened to an album of theirs, and I must admit to being somewhat underwhelmed. This is straightforward heavy metal, and it is almost as if they are still stuck in the same scene as they were 45 years ago. Feinstein is a good vocalist without being exceptional, and the same goes for his guitar playing, and while Canedy is hitting the kit really hard there is nothing really explosive and Villano sits somewhere in the middle of them both. Keyboard player Lonnie Park appears for his third consecutive album with the band, but his role is only ever to play some additional colour as opposed to anything major.
Mind you, Feinstein is 80 years old in 2027, and to think he still has this power and emotion is quite remarkable. But while I am sure I would stay to watch if they were playing (my memory tells me I should have seen them support Iron Maiden on The Beast on the Road tour, but I am sure they didn’t play and we had local band Steel instead), this album is just too basic and middle of the road for me to want to return to it.
Rating: 6/10
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialRodsPage/
https://massacre-records.com/