Stephen
Five years after 'Army of One', RIOT returned with a new singer, Tony Moore, to replace the long-time shouter, Mike DiMeo, but sadly, like SHY, a great album was the last album for Mark Reale whom passed away recently after losing the battle to Crohn's disease. Production was handled by Bruno Ravel that's famous with DANGER DANGER which is surprising to me and I think Moore's vocal is quite superior on the upper range but DiMeo still won the normal range.
The first two tracks are absolutely stunning. 'Riot' is really heavy and fast-paced, the chorus is just perfect and 'Still Your Man' reminds me to IRON MAIDEN a lot. 'Crawling' is dark with chugging riffs, but overall a decent track. Good thing is that this is the only weak track here. 'Wings Are For Angels' is like the first tune, more power metal than the rest and among the best here. 'Fall Before Me' is a nice semi-ballad tune and 'Sins of The Father' blasted with a superb riffs.
What makes it interesting, when you think of the first half that's fully loaded with metal tracks, you can't expect that RIOT will play with hard rock tunes on the second half. 'Whiskey Man' and 'Believe' are two obvious examples and both are excellent tunes too. 'Echoes' is a good one, but not as strong as those two. The vocal harmonies are awesome and production is great, Ravel did a good job here. A strong album and without Reale, I'm not sure they can keep up the pace in the future, but good luck to them and hopefully they will stay strong on their game.