Riot V – Mean Streets (2024)

Riot are a very special case. They decided to continue the band’s activities after the loss of their founder (Mark Realer – RIP 2012), only to give us excellent releases and honor his name in the best possible way. The logo of Riot (with or without V) is printed on 17 full length releases and is nearing its 50 years of existence and by having many musicians passed through their ranks, their current line up is cemented without change since 2014. 

By looking at the numbers mentioned above one may have expectations on a very short leash, because what new could we get from Mean Streets? The seal mascot Johnny is back riding a motorbike, songs called Hail to the Warrior and Feel the Fire, we have seen those before right? Well, stop right there and throw any prejudiced opinion straight to the trash bin, because this album is a testament of how experience, inspiration and desire CAN go hand in hand, by being awesome in everything it does. 

What Riot do admirably is staying true to their identity, they established their name by playing Speed/Power and they do exactly that. Usually when musicians mature, they tend to follow more melodic paths by relinquishing their aggressive past selves. But this album is filled with metal juggernauts like the starting Hail to the Warrior, Mortal Eyes, Higher or High Noon. Of course with 12 compositions we will have many mid tempo moments, what about them? They may be even better, with Open Road stealing the spotlight of the best song for me, thanks to its hymnic chorus and guitar work.

I hear you saying that those descriptions apply for many bands, don’t Accept, Saxon, Judas Priest did the same, after all, this year? And here is where the contributors of Mean Streets come into play. Todd Michael Hall’s voice jumps between ranges in the blink of an eye, while showing great control, he is definitely at the peak of his performance. The ultimate win is accomplished by the guitars of Mike Flyntz and Nick Lee. There is not a single track where their work is boring or serviceable, they manage to make something interesting out of everything they play. Let’s not forget our rhythm section, Don Van Stavern and Frank Gilchriest show equal enthusiasm, you want groove and diverse results during the slower beats? Got them! For faster moments I will let Mortal Eyes speak on my behalf. 

On top of those, we have interesting vocal lines on every part. Check the transition between verses and chorus of the title track for example. If you isolate any aspect of Mean Streets, you will find it works like a well-tempered clock individually, but they also tie together in perfect harmony. 

When the name of the band pops up, the first thing that comes to mind is Thundersteel. Riot don’t need to live under its shadow and have given us 12 more reasons for us to stop making that correlation, even if their new music closes the eye to that period. As a Power/Speed metal fan, I don’t know what else could I ask for from a record like that. Totally classic, totally fresh, totally METAL!   

94/100

Pavlos Pavlakis

On behalf of Metal Domain