Customer Reviews

Shout at the Devil

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Although Motley Crue's debut album "Too Fast for Love" is a fine album that is held in high esteem today, upon its release in 1982, it failed to gain attention. Not detoured by their debut's lack of success, the Crue hit the studio once again with producer Tom Weirman to record their sophomore classic "Shout at the Devil" (1983).

"Shout at the Devil" is the album that put Motley Crue on the map and thrust them into superstardom. While "Dr. Feelgood" (1989) remains the Crue's best selling album, many fans regard "Shout at the Devil" as the band's magnum opus.

Eschewing the punk styling of their debut, the Crue opted for a heavier, fiercer look and sound for their second album. If "Too Fast for Love" paid tribute to the Clash and Generation X, "Shout at the Devil" barrowed a little from KISS and Aerosmith; but made the sound heavier. Song after song, "Shout" takes no prisoners. Indeed, "Shout at the Devil" is the bands heaviest, most intense release.

While "Shout" isn't exactly a concept record, defiance against corrupt authority seems to be the album's central theme. "Shout at the Devil" depicts a world without morality, a hopeless, empty, sorrowful place. Evil abounds, but you must fight it, be strong, and fight back.

One reason "Shout" is such a great album is the band really gives 100 percent effort. The Crue had not yet slipped into complacency and went into the studio full force. It's as though with "Shout," they wanted to make a statement. They wanted to tell the world that they were the meanest, baddest, loudest, fiercest band on the planet. With "Shout," Nikki Sixx (bass), Tommy Lee (drums), Mick Mars (guitar), and Vince Neil (vocals), give the performance of their career.

Not only did the Crue have the image and the attitude, they also had great songs to back it up. Simply put, Nikki Sixx's best songwriting is from this period. The songs are heavy, but also highly melodic. The whole album has great hooks and grooves, but is never overly commercial or contrived. While the Crue's later work was excellent if uneven, "Shout" is virtually flawless.

The album starts out with an introduction titled "In the Beginning," which describes a world gone to hell. The narrator tells the listener to fight back, "be strong and Shout at the Devil!" This introduction is essential to setting the atmosphere for the rest of the album and is a great lead-in the album's title track. The mid-tempo "Shout at the Devil" has a magnificent pounding beat with a sinister riff and groove. The rapid-fire "Looks that Kill" is probably the album's catchiest song, which may be why it was chosen as a single. The hard-hitting "Bastard" is good, if not excellent, and keeps up the momentum.

The album slows down a bit for the haunting instrumental "God Bless the Children of the Beast," which is a nice change of pace. This leads perfectly into a cover of the Beatles "Helter Skelter." "Helter Skelter" is considered by some to be one of the first metal songs ever written, so its inclusion is not entirely out-of-place. The Crue more-or-less stick to the original sound of the track, but give it a little more of a metal trimming. Although not quite up-to-par with the original (it is The Beatles after all), it's definitely a worthy cover and a great addition to "Shout." "Red Hot," while not the album's most well-known song, is quite strong and infectious. "Too Young to fall in Love," another Motley staple, is the closest the album comes to an actual balled. The intensity of the album only increases as it winds down with the no-holds-bar "Knock `em Dead Kid," and "Ten Seconds to Love." The intensity levels off with "Danger," which makes for a good closing number.

The remastered edition has plenty of bonus material that should be of interest to fans. Demo versions of "Shout at the Devil," "Looks that Kill," and "Too Young to fall in Love" show the songs as works-in-progress and are of important historical value. The demo "Hotter than Hell" was re-worked, and re-titled "Louder than Hell" for the Crue's follow-up album "Theatre of Pain" (1985). It's cool to hear a "Theatre of Pain" era song as it might have been used for "Shout." The unreleased "I Will Survive" is good, but not great.

Released in 1983, "Shout at the Devil" has held up fairly well. It may seem a little dated and tame when compared to something like Marilyn Manson's "Antichrist Superstar" (1996) or other more recent metal bands, but "Shout" was one of the first of its type. It should be noted that Manson himself is a big fan of this album. So without "Shout," there would be no "Antichrist Superstar."

Along with "Too Fast for Love," and the highly underrated self-titled "Motley Crue" (1994), "Shout at the Devil" remains the Crue's best work. Although there were many imitators, some good, some bad, "Shout at the Devil" remains a quintessential 80s heavy metal album.

Shout at the Devil is a critically important album. While its predecessor, Too Fast for Love, was quite good, SATD lunged forward with a fury that left the aforementioned release in a glamorous dust. SATD is heavy--in pacing, in mood, in lyrics, in its mantra. But it's an image of a moment in musical time and location that will never happen again. It never could happen again. Ask anyone who survived it. You can hear the Sunset Strip beginning to unravel even here in 83'--well before Cobain--and in many ways this sad imminent doom is every bit as punk as albums that are officially labeled as such. This album never tried to be punk; it just is, and that is what makes it so, even if it is in a non-standard way.

Knock em Dead Kid -- Loomis

Motley Crue always had a heavy sound, but never more than on this early '80s hard rock classic. No one can claim this effort sells out, as it has a raw sound with no ballads. The title track is a legendary, fist-pumping hard rocker, while "Looks That Kill" just shreads. "Helter Skelter" is a catchy, hard rocking cover. "Red Hot" flat out smokes. "Too Young To Fall In Love" is a classic, catchy anthem--not near a ballad but perhaps the closest thing to one on this album. "Ten Seconds To Love" is another fist-pumping anthem.

This is, quite simply, one of those albums that opened the doors for 1980s "glam rock", "hair metal", or whatever you want to call it. Sure, the stuck-up music critics and "flavor of the week" pop music groupees deride this kind of music today; but if you listened to this stuff in the days it was most popular, you know how much fun this music is. Not to be taken seriously--just something to have fun and rock out to. What a concept!

No, folks, "Shout At The Devil" isn't a masterpiece of technical wizardry and/or brutal, thrashing heaviness...but that's not what it's about anyway.

It's about energy and attitude...fist-pumping adrenaline...and good ol' fashioned headbanging. This is the essence of what Motley Crue is all about...raunch 'n' roll...but with a harder, darker edge than their previous or subsequent albums. It stands out because of that...the focus here was on darker, sinister, heavier music and themes...there's not as much of the tongue-in-cheek humorous sneer that marks Motley Crue's other works. This was about leather and spikes.

It's simple, direct, to-the-point classic metal. With this album Motley Crue really opened the door to the L.A. metal and "pop" metal scenes (though I wouldn't classify this as pop metal...it's more classic metal). It's a highly influential album.

Again, it's a simple formula: rude guitars, snarling, screaming, sultry vocals, pounding bass and drums. You won't find musical breakthroughs here, but you will find two things on here that make this album worthy: classic metal guitar riffs and licks, and GROOVE. It's 4/4 and it grooves and pounds -- after all, despite his personal issues, you have one of the better rock/metal drummers on this album in the person of Tommy Lee.

So check it out and hear one of the albums that started it all. Get past the 80's leather-and-spikes and hairspray look and you'll find some metal to get your head banging. "Looks That Kill", "Shout At The Devil", "Too Young To Fall In Love" and a killer cover of "Helter Skelter."

Of all the albums that span the history of heavy metal, this is one of the finest. The Crue would never again live up to quality of this album - it is a masterpiece. Their 1st album is solid, but nowhere near this metal brilliance. This album is a gem...from start to finish.

As far as impact on the hard rock/metal scene, this album is near the very top. The distortion is absolutely killer, Vince Neil's vocals are top-notch, and the drums are outstanding. This album is razor-sharp metal. Unfortunately after this album, the Crue would go on to make pop-metal on par with Warrant, Poison, and Slaughter. But this album is nothin' but metal.

Highlights include pretty much everything, though the best are "Looks that Kill", "Red Hot","Ten Seconds to Love" and the title song. However, again, don't discount the others. A masterpiece. If you love hard rock/metal and don't own this album shame on you. But if you do, well you probably already own this.

This album is without a doubt Motley Crue at it's best. The band released many good album's after this including Theater Of Pain, Girls Girls Girls, and Dr FeelGood but I feel none can match up to this one. This is raw heavy Motley Crue. Almost each and every song on the album is a classic. The bonus tracks are awesome for any true Motley Crue fan. This album shows just how bad ass Motley Crue was when this album came out in the 80's. For a band who is known as a Glam Metal band, hearing this album wouldn't make you think for one second they were glam metal. Shout At The Devil besides being the name of the album is a classic Crue song and by far one of they're most popular. Then there is Looks That Kill which along with Too Young To Fall In Love are my two favorite songs on the album. They did an excellent cover to the Beatles original Helter Skelter. Plus every other song on the album is good and I don't think there is one weak thing about this album and it is heavy and solid the whole way through. Sure the bands albums have toned down alot after this one but this one was the stand out for the band. This is a must have for any Motley Crue fan. If you are just starting to get into 80's Metal I highly recommend this album as one of your firt albums along with Skid Row's self titled album, Iron Maiden's Number Of The Beast, Metallica's Master Of Puppets, and Megadeth's Peace Sells But Who's Buying. Trust me this album will not be a disappointment.

This album really got me interested in the band, but I have to admit, nothing else they did compares. They have some other good songs, but not albums. With that said, this album rocks! Definitely a classic in my book. To this day, its a great listen. Definitely happy to have this one in my collection.

THis is the album that brought Heavy Metal into popularity in the 80's and remained king until that era's demise. This what the sound eveyone else was copying and the look everyone else wanted to have. Its a great production for its time with meaty guitars and great songs. Its for rock fans. People who like the Bare Naked Ladies will hate this and thats why I like it even more.

Absolutely without a doubt their best album ever !