Apoch's Metal Review - Riotgod: Riotgod CD Review

Discography	Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed.
Full-Length(s):	Riotgod (2010) • Invisible Empire (2012)

Review

Riotgod is a Hard Rock band that is formed by Monster Magnet members Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino. The group was founded back in 2007, and enlisted Garrett Sweeny on guitar, as well as brought in vocalist Mark Sunshine to put a seal on this project. This side-project takes on more of an old-school Rock 'n Roll sound to the mix, both in the compositions of the songs, as well as even the overall production and performance on the disc. But, the real question is whether or not this throwback to the classic Rock days is good enough to stand on its own as possibly more than being a side-project for these influential musicians.

Right off the bat, there's something special about Riotgod, which lies in the production. The music sounds like something from the early sixties, having that hollow-sounding guitar distortion that would adorn a mono-recording on vinyl from back in the day. At first, it sounds awkward, and for today's music, very hollow, but as the songs progress and you see exactly what the band is trying to capture with much of their material, it actually comes off very suiting for the atmosphere being created. Of course, this works wonders for some of the slower, classic Rock tracks like "Crusader", which has a little more of a groove feel to the music that many would come to expect from the aforementioned time period. However, the more Hard Rock tracks are a different story. Some of the tracks can sound a little more hollow than one would actually want, leaving a bit of a higher pitch to the guitars that can be a little too much for the recording. However, it definitely helps some of the others on here, like "Horizon", especially near the end when the music continues, but the vocalist puts plenty of great effort into the vocals, which are buried in the background due to the distortion, but, again, for the atmosphere that is being created, it works perfectly to create an homage to earlier Rock albums.

Outside the more analog/mono recording sound, Riotgod has a good amount of well done classic Rock music. But, other than that, there's really not much else that can be said. The material here takes the original classic Rock sound and really pays homage to the inventors of the style well, but also seems to take some of todays more modern Rock/contemporary compositions into effect as well, with some songs sounding like material one would expect to hear from acts like The Vines. The perfect example would be the song "Pinata", which is a more traditional-sounding Hard Rock track, but it just features a strong progression in the guitars that adds more of an edge to it then any recording of Hard Rock up to the early to mid-eighties. But, while there are tracks like that, there's just as many that feature the classic Rock vibe from bands like Rainbow and the like, such as the following track "Drone Station", which takes in classical melodic music with harder guitars that are simply vintage Rock, but this track also features a rather epic build-up to the guitar solo that is simply breathtaking, and really makes this song, and others like it, genuinely stand out on the release.

Riotgod is a great homage to the days of classic Rock, but also has some tinges of today's concept of Hard Rock thrown in. The production quality of the album sets the tone nicely, and the overall performances by all the members are highly impressive and suit that atmosphere nicely, whether it's the more Alice in Chains-like vocal approach, or the varying guitar performances. The material can often suffer and sound kind of hollow due to the production used, and on a few occasions, such as on "Sweet Kaos", the material can seem to go a little too far into the Alice in Chains inspirations, but all in all, Riotgod have put out a release that nicely pays homage to their inspirations, and the roots of much of the music we, as fans of Metal, have found to be the basis of with many bands.

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	Digital review copy of this release provided by: Metalville Records via Freeman Promotions.

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