Riot - Restless Breed (1982)^{Release ID: 2186}

It had been a full eleven years since Black Sabbath had kicked off the heavy metal genre with their self-titled album in 1970, but 1981 would see the Americans finally managing to contribute a major metal release in the third album from New York’s Riot (entitled “Fire Down Under”) representing a breakthrough moment for US metal. It showcased a beautifully produced & performed blend of energetic heavy metal & hard rock which appealed to me a hell of a lot more than the more commercially focused hard rock of the band’s 70’s material. So having already had my interest tweeked by “Fire Down Under”, I was interested to see what direction Riot had taken with their fourth album “Restless Breed” given the high expectations that come with a string of three critically acclaimed releases in a row & a progressively heavier & more refined sound. Well Riot’s early material was blessed by the inclusion of enormously talented front man Guy Speranza whose vocal ability was capable of lifting the band’s weaker material to much wider levels of appeal, but unfortunately “Fire Down Under” would be the last Riot album for Guy. He parted ways with the band in early 1982 which was partially the result of his ongoing frustration with Riot’s management & the music scene in general & partially because of family commitments following his recent marriage. But that wasn’t before Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian had offered him the empty vocal spot with Anthrax however. An offer which he proceeded to knock back by maintaining his intention to leave the music industry. I for one would have been very interested to hear a Guy-fronted Anthrax. Anyway… Riot had a big hole to fill & they did so with a 26 year-old singer from Georgia by the name of Rhett Forester.  

Rhett was a substantially different singer to Guy, possessing a bluesy & distinctly American sounding voice that was no less powerful. But it’s certainly a topic of great debate as to how suitable Rhett was for Riot’s sound with many fans feeling that he was instrumental in leading Riot down a bluesier & more commercially accessible path. And look… that may or may not be the case however I choose not to worry about that & to let my ears decide on whether I like this new version of Riot or not. For starters, fans are correct that “Restless Breed” has a distinctly more bluesy sound but not in a bad way. Rhett’s vocal approach certainly works well in that environment & I have to admit that I really like his sound. Riot’s albums have always included just as much hard rock as heavy metal so I don’t think it’s a major concern to hear that again here even though things are weighted a little further towards the hard rock side of things as they were on Riot’s first two albums to be fair. There’s even a total blues rock outing in the pretty decent “Showdown”. But the style of this record is not the only difference to Riot’s previous material with the production also being a major talking point. Production has always been a real strength for the band with a consistently bright & energetic sound being one of their major strengths. Unfortunately, “Restless Breed” doesn’t fit into that mould & the sound is a bit flat & lacking brightness. That’s not a complete deal-breaker by any stretch of the imagination however I do think it contributes to many people claiming that this album is much less heavy than it actually is. It certainly nullifies the impact of the musicianship a little & Mark Reale’s guitar solos don’t have quite the electricity that they did previously. The rhythm section seems to have taken a more basic approach than they have previously too which one would assume is an attempt to give the songs a more accessible flavour. Thankfully though, the song-writing is as strong as we’ve heard from Riot to this point & there are more highlights than on any of their first three albums in my opinion. 

Yep! That’s right everyone! While most Riot fans will tell you that “Restless Breed” was the point where the band started to decline I’m gonna go the other way & say that I find it to be their most enjoyable release to date; even taking into account the obvious production issues & the more commercial & bluesy sound. Opening track “Hard Lovin’Man” is amongst my very favourite heavy metal songs. It’s just an absolute corker! While “Loanshark” is also a really strong metal tune with some very intense thrash drumming that I’d imagine would have been pretty ground-breaking for the time. But Riot have never been a pure metal band. In fact, I found some of the more hard rock driven tracks on “Fire Down Under” to be amongst the highlights of the album & I’m tempted to say that I think they were as good a hard rock band as they were a metal one at this stage. The bluesy title track is a clear example of this. I simply love it. I think the fact that many of these songs lack the urgency & energy of Riot’s signature sound is probably an issue for some people & contributes to the lower regard for this album but I have no problem with it at all. It’s just a different sound & one that suits Rhett Forrester’s vocal style pretty well. There are still a few flat tracks to be fair (the cover version of Eric Burdon & the Animal’s “When I Was Young” in particular) but the larger percentage of highlights on this album caters for those better than it did on previous albums in my opinion. Unlike everyone else in the world this is my favourite Riot release to the time & I think you should all check it out with an open mind. It’s a real grower & improves substantially with repeat listens.