Great Metal Albums of 1982: Riot- Restless Breed

Having reread my post for the previous Riot album, “Fire Down Under,” I realise that I did post a picture of RATT when I meant to post a picture of the band Riot. Therefore, I have come to the executive decision that I will no longer use google images when I post pictures of albums or bands. Instead, I will use the heavyharmonies.com site which actually takes getting its facts right seriously. Enough of that now, let’s get to another great album from Riot that I should not have waited til the late 80s to listen to.

Again, after listening to the 1982 offering from Riot, “Restless Breed,” I am again asking why this band didn’t have more commercial success. As I listened to the album, I could hear songs that, in my mind, influenced some of the bands that came after and had more success. For instance, the track “C.I.A.” sounds like something that WASP would have done and “When I Was Young” reminds me a little of Y & T. However, Riot was around long before either of these bands were so they drew influence from Riot. Saying that, I could hear a little Judas Priest influence in “When I was Young” as well. However, the rest of the album is straight ahead no frills heavy metal, the way heavy metal was supposed to be played.

“Hard Lovin’ Man” may not be the greatest song in the world to open an album but it does the job in preparing the way for the rest of the album. It may have influenced WASP but “C.I.A.” is still a brilliant song and the next one “Restless Breed” is even better. The middle of the order on the album is for me, the strongest. The songs “When I Was Young,” “Loanshark” and “Loved by You” are the stand outs for me. The latter has one of those catchy choruses where you are still singing it long after the album has finished and you are three miles down the road in the car. They are just loveable rockers. And the best guitar solo goes to the next track, “Over to You.” “Slow Down” is the token ballad on the album but it’s not bad with some good guitar work on it. Things return to normal with the last two songs. “Dream Away” sounds like it might be another ballad but don’t let the title fool you. It has that Southern rock boogie vibe to it and the closer, “Violent Crimes” ends things very nicely. All in all, “Restless Breed” by Riot is one I should have had on cassette blasting out of the car as I cruised down the road.

Track Listing:

1. Hard Lovin’ Man
2. C.I.A.
3. Restless Breed
4. When I was Young
5. Loanshark
6. Loved By You
7. Over to You
8. Slow Down
9. Dream Away
10. Violent Crimes

Riot (and this time it actually is them)

Rhett Forester- vocals, harmonica

Mark Reale- guitar

Rick Ventura- guitar

Kip Leming- bass

Sandy Slavin- drums

Let me venture a theory on why Riot didn’t get the notoriety they so richly deserved back in the day. I think that people were so caught up in the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) that possibly American metal bands got pushed to one side. Whatever, the case, Riot was a band who rocked and those who were fortunate to listen to them can vouch for it.

Next post: Y & T- Black Tiger

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