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The last time The Rods released something new was before anyone had heard of Guns N’ Roses.

But a quarter-of-a-century after last studio album Heavier Than Thou, the American East Coast trio are back, sounding as raw and powerful as they were on the seminal 1981 self-titled album.

David ‘Rock’ Feinstein (guitar/vocals), Garry Bordonaro (bass) and Carl Canedy (drums/vocals) have avoided any attempts to mature. They know what The Rods should sound like, and that’s what we get. It’s full-on, biker friendly US metal.

Of course, one song will get all the attention. The Code features a late, masterful stint from Ronnie James Dio. But make no mistake, Vengeance stands tall in its own right.

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.