Search - Riot :: Thundersteel

You 5 Star people must not have very high standards!

JP | Macon, GA | 12/19/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I LOVE early Riot, especially the classic one-two punch of "Narita" and "Fire Down Under", but Rhett's "Restless Breed" hair metal posing turned me off so much I gave up until earlier this fall. I knew there was other, later, better Riot out there but simply had too much other, already known to be better, music to spend my $$ on.



So I finally got this based on all the 5 star recommendations here on Amazon and all I can say is I am glad I bought a used copy and you people must not have very high standards at all!! Based on the assumption that "Fire Down Under" IS 5 stars and "Narita" and "Army of One" are 4, this is 3 stars AT BEST!!!



Don't get me wrong, it isn't that bad, better than the 83-86 poser stuff but, with ALL the great stuff out there to spend my time listening to, I doubt I'll be listening to this much! And, being 88, you can still hear the hair metal in it. And I don't really like the singer - WAY too helium voiced, reminds me of the original Fates Warning singer. Overall, just a little too close to "B-budget Queensryche clone" for my tastes!! Considering they had their own, unique style in the early 80s I have to wonder why they even decided to go in this direction!



Heck, the 2006 release, "Army of One", is FAR superior to this, too bad Amazon lists it as an overpriced Import only (even the used copies are $18-25!!). You can definitely hear the influence of recent musical happenings in the music on that one!!



Bottom line: For hardcore Riot fans or diehard hair metal fans only. And even if you ARE a hardcore Riot fan, getting this before "Fire Down Under", "Narita" and "Army of One" is downright CRIMINAL!



On a sidebar - yesterday I read that the original singer, Guy Speranza (the good one), died of cancer!! So, between him and Rhett Forester getting murdered.....seems like they have a Spinal Tap drummer thing going on....not sure I'd want to be a singer in this band :)

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