TWISTED SISTER — Stay Hungry (review)

TWISTED SISTER — Stay Hungry album cover Album · 1984 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Unitron
Twisted Sister are one of those big 80's metal bands that are unfortunately mostly only remembered today for one or two songs, in their case, the hit punk metal anthem that was We're Not Gonna Take It. While a decent enough song if you like that kind of thing (I don't), it doesn't reflect the rest of this album or the majority of Twisted Sister's sound as a whole.

Stay Hungry is a great combination of energetic classic heavy metal and dark yet melodic doom metal. The title track, I Wanna Rock, and S.M.F. belong to the former, while Burn in Hell, Horror-Teria, and The Beast are the latter. I think it hits a perfect balance, makes for a great album of two sides.

My favorites though are the three darker songs, mainly for how great the hooks and melodies are. Burn in Hell has always sounded like it really influenced Anthrax, especially in Dee Snider's vocal performance in the catchy refrain of the 'Hear no evil, see no evil' section. Horror-Teria is one of the most intimidating and disturbing doom metal songs I've heard, but it's got such a great riff, chorus, and powerful ending, that it keeps you listening. Finally, The Beast simply just has such a killer riff, and might be my favorite on the album.

One of 80's heavy metal's great classics.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I forgot how friggin silly they look in We're Not Gonna Take It! I understand the hate if they only go by this video but they were much more for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AbeALNVkk

Tupan wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Classic! Love the darker songs, too.
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
lol sorry, I'm on a roll today. Yeah, it's a shame that people just look at their image and think that they're going to sound like a generic hair band. I haven't read Dee Snider's bio, but I can already say that Stay Hungry's album cover isn't very hair band like. It's more gory than big hair and lipstick.
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Dee Snider = Bettte Midler + Hulk Hogan. Yeah, great album
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
(Man, you guys are making it hard to get any work done today with all these reviews I need to read!)

Totally agree with the dark/doom references here. This album often gets dismissed as glam metal fluff, but that's generally by people who haven't listened to the whole thing - they should go and listen to Love is For Suckers instead. There are some really dark themes here, and it's a lot deeper than a superficial first glance might reveal.

This was the first metal album I ever owned. While I have to say I prefer Under The Blade or Come Out and Play now, because I have over-listened to Stay Hungry, it still holds up.

And if you ever read Dee Snider's biography Shut Up and Give Me the Mic, the story behind that cover photo is a good one. Let's just say that big bone isn't as fresh as it looks! ;-)

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us