Shout At the Devil

iTunes Review

Shout At the Devil is the album that broke Motley Crue to the big time, inflating their seething street-level riffs to stadium rock proportions. The title track was a calling card for the new Crue. A fist-pumping anthem driven by Tommy Lee’s thunderous drums, the song freely courts the satanic associations that would begin to mar heavy metal in the mid-Eighties. “Red Hot” and “Knock ‘Em Dead” return the band to the high-velocity rock of Too Fast For Love, even though the songs are slightly less developed this time around. With its churning groove and creepy-yet-infectious hook, “Looks That Kill” is the album’s undeniable centerpiece — check out the demo version for an even rawer take on this Crue classic. At least as important as the music is the album cover itself, a take-off on the Beatles’ Let It Be that captures the band members in all their painted glory. Even if the band had not quite found the hook-heavy songwriting style that would blow them up in the years to come, Shout At the Devil crystallizes the image and attitude that would turn Motley Crue into heavy metal superstars.