The Rods
Formed in 1980, The Rods were hard rocking New Yorkers. The initial line up featured David ‘Rock’ Feinstein on Guitar and Vocals, Steven Starmer on Bass and Vocals, and Carl Canedy on Drums and Vocals. The Rods independently released their debut album Rock Hard in 1980 and soon after signed to Arista, who then released the album officially and under the title ‘The Rods’ in 1981. In Kerrang’s Armed and Ready feature, ‘The Rods’ is described as ‘the US metal debut album of the year!’, and that is hard to deny. Stand out tracks for WLL are ‘Crank It Up’ and ‘Get Ready To Rock ‘N’ Roll’ – but it is a superb album and well deserved of a complete listen.
Feinstein had already received some attention as a member of the band Elf, which also featured his cousin – Ronnie James Dio. However, The Rods sound couldn’t have been more different to Elf’s more restrained bluesy feel – The Rods were clearly committed to a much heavier vibe…and all the better for it!!
A quick succession of releases followed ‘The Rods’ with the EP ‘Full Throttle’ in ’81 and then their second album ‘Wild Dogs’ in ’82. Steven Starmer was replaced by Gary Bordonaro not long after the release of ‘Wild Dogs’ and the line-up settled for the remainder of their career.
Carl Canedy, of course, went on to produce some crucially important metal albums, specifically those coming from the emerging Thrash scene with bands such as Anthrax (Armed and Dangerous and Spreading The Disease), Exciter (Violence and Force), Overkill (Feel The Fire) and Possessed (Beyond The Gates) to name a few.
The Rods reformed in 2008 and are still touring to date, mainly playing festivals and US shows. Two albums followed their reunion, Vengeance and Brotherhood Of Metal. Some of their albums have recently been re-mastered and re-released (see our competition to win copies!) breathing new life into some classic slabs of metal from a band whose influence often goes unrecognised. Let them eat metal…indeed.
Sacred Alien
Before I start to write this, can I just point out that Armed and Ready, as a concept, often throws up some curve balls – I guess that was part of its purpose / attraction.
Sacred Alien formed in 1980 and come from Manchester – I talk about them in the present-tense because they began working together again in 2018 after a 36 year hiatus!
Their feature in the original Armed and Ready! heaped praise on their unique style – somewhere in between Psychedelic free form and Queen! If that doesn’t get you interested or running away in equal measures then I don’t know what will…
Some deeper research into Sacred Alien finds a band who are more akin to Rush than Queen – I guess Sean Canning’s vocals sometimes stumble into the operatic at times, although I would liken him to Rob Halford over Freddie Mercury.
Sacred Alien released a series of demos and singles in their 1980-83 time on earth and compiled these together to create ‘Legends’, a 2020 release on Skol Records.
What a shame…… it’s a shame, because having done some research and listened to the band over a few days its clear that they had so much more to offer than they achieved in their short life in the 80’s. There is some quality musicianship on those early recordings, easily audible through the questionable production. I would have loved to have heard more from them had they had some weight behind them from a decent label. Perhaps they were a little behind the ‘psychedelic rock’ pack, right sound – wrong time. Either way, I feel slightly robbed of a much deeper experience when it comes to Sacred Alien…and that right there is the curve ball I talk of in the opening statement. I’m not a huge fan of this quite specific sub-genre of metal – in fact, I’m not a massive fan of Rush! Perhaps I’m too simple a man to get the complexities that such bands offer the listener, but I get Sacred Alien and I love it!!
Tracks well worth a listen are:
Energy
Both Sides Of The Globe
Portrait Of A Saddened Mind
Spiritual Planet