Dee Snider released his latest solo album this past week, Leave a Scar, which the Twisted Sister frontman says is a true follow-up to his 2018 studio effort, For the Love of Metal.
Like For the Love of Metal, Leave a Scar finds Snider collaborating with Hatebreed‘s Jamey Jasta and exploring heavier, contemporary metal sounds.
Snider notes that while he left songwriting duties to Jasta and other collaborators for his previous album, with Leave a Scar, he felt motivated to co-write the new tunes, inspired by the state of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was very much driven by ‘I need to say something,'” Snider tells ABC Audio. “This record is of the time. Every song is inspired by what’s going on in the world, and what [we’re]…all going through.”
He adds, “It was the pandemic. It was the social unrest, the political unrest in the world. I mean, our country was a mess, but it was going on in England and Brazil and all around the globe.”
While the songs on Leave a Scar tackle some heavy subjects, Snider says he also wanted the tunes to offer messages of hope for people dealing with the frustration of life during the pandemic.
The album kicks off with “I Gotta Rock (Again),” a song in the tradition of Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock,” only much heavier, that also serves as an anthem for rock fans itching to go to live concerts again.
“By the middle of COVID, ‘I Gotta Rock (Again)’ popped in my head and I said, ‘Boy, if there was ever a Dee Snider title, that’s [one] right there,” he explains. “[I]t was supposed to be an anthem. It was supposed to be a sledgehammer. And I’m hoping it achieves its goal.”
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