QUIET RIOT
“ROAD RAGE”
Album Review By Dawn King
7/10
Having only really known of the band Quiet Riot by their eighties monster hit Bang Your Head (Metal Health), I jumped at the chance to review their latest offering “Road Rage” which was released by Frontiers Music on 4th August 2017.
The band was originally formed in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni under the name Mach 1. They changed their name to Little Women before settling on Quiet Riot in 1975. Their name was inspired by Status Quo’s Rick Parfitt who had once said that he wanted to call a band Quite Right, but his thick British accent made it sound like he was saying Quiet Riot.
The band had several line-up changes and brief break ups during their time, but continued to tour and record until original singer Kevin Dubrow’s death of a cocaine overdose in 2007. The band was revived by drummer Frank Banali in 2010, albeit with no founding member remaining, and is now joined by veteran bassist Chuck Wright (who has been in and out of the band since 1982), guitarist Alex Grossi (band member since 2004) and new vocalist James Durbin.
Famously known as the first heavy metal band to top the Billboard pop charts, the Los Angeles quartet became a global sensation thanks to their monstrous smash hit album “Metal Health” in 1983, which stayed at the top of the Billboard chart for several months, and the follow up album “Condition Critical” went double platinum.
Even now, the band consider themselves to be an unstoppable force in the world of rock and roll.
So, what of the new album?
Originally scheduled to be released in the Spring of 2017, the band decided to scrap the original sessions and re-record a whole new version of the album once Durbin arrived at the band.
I am too young to remember the spandex-clad, glam version of the band from the eighties, but this new incarnation is not altogether bad.
I have seen other reviews condemning Banali for continuing the band, suggesting they should have given up after the death of Dubrow, but I, for one, applaud him for doing so. Its not unusual to have a band nowadays with no original members surviving over the years, but the music of said bands does! I love it when an “old” band release new material, proving that the spirit of rock and roll still lives on.
The production of this album is not great, feeling a bit like it’s being played in a bucket at times, BUT this gives it an almost demo-like feel, but maybe that was the band’s intention. This first album with the new line up IS in fact their demo.
But what this album does give you, is an insight into the world of Quiet Riot. James Durbin, of American Idol fame, is young, not even being born at the height of Quiet Riot’s fame, but with his youth, there is a freshness to the band, bringing them right up to date.
Personally, I think reviewers and music critiques take new releases by old bands far too seriously. A new album by a band from the seventies, eighties or even the nineties, is not to try and gain new listeners or to prove anything to anyone, although I’m sure if either of those two things happened, the band involved would be over the moon.
For me, a new release by an old band is a trip back through the years, to a time when rock n roll ruled, and music lovers didn’t give a fuck! To a time when the music was great, and the bands were greater, yet some people class this as hanging on to the past and not moving with the times.
Ok, this is not the best album by an older band this year, nor will it ever be, but this is Quiet Riot doing what they do, making music, and I would like to applaud them for that!
TRACKLIST
Can’t Get Enough
Getaway
Roll This Joint
Freak Flag
Wasted
Still Wild
Make A Way
Renegades
The Road
Shame
Knock Em Down
https://www.facebook.com/quietriot
https://quietriot.band/
https://twitter.com/quietriot
https://www.youtube.com/user/QuietRiotVEVO
https://myspace.com/quietriot
http://www.deezer.com/en/artist/5732?autoplay=true
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1dLWg6m8RRhizsdqJbhyj3?autoplay=true
https://tunein.com/artist/Quiet-Riot-m29200/?autoplay=true
This review is the property of Dawn King and Metal Gods TV. It is strictly prohibited to copy any part of this review, unless you have both of the parties’ permission, or are the band/record label/PR company in question. Failure to adhere to these instructions will be considered as Plagiarism and you will be reported to the appropriate authorities.