Wednesday, August 16, 2006

#92 - Don't Hold Back - Riot - Fire Down Under (1981)



I first heard this song on the Pam Merli metal show on WYSP in Philadelphia back in the ealy 1980's. I would tape the shows on my boom box and listen to the tapes over and over again. This one track always stood out among all the other "underground" (ie Raven, TT Quick, etc.) stuff at the time.

While the album art is horrible, this is a really good album, with Don't Hold Back as my personal favorie on the album. Unfortunately, 1981 was the high water mark for Riot. Guy Speranza was replaced b Rhett Forrester, and while the latter is a decent vocalist, the band were never the same, as fame and fortune continued to elude them.

3 comments:

Metal Mark said...

TT Quick? There's a band I never though that I would see mentioned on anyone's blog. I liked them and early Raven, but have never heard a Riot album except Thundersteel (I think that was the name of it).

Anonymous said...

My favorite is Outlaw, with Swords & Tequila second. A superb album, Riot's best. I prefer Guy Speranza (RIP) but the Rhett Forrester (RIP) era still gave us Restless Breed and Born In America. Mark Reale is one of the best unknown guitarists, Riot should have been huge, like Diamond Head.

TT Quick I haven't put on in a long time. I have Metal Of Honor on CD and had Sloppy Seconds on a dubbed cassette back in the day. Sloppy Seconds continues to elude me on CD.

Mark - Thundersteel is not Riot's finest hour. To me, Reale went shredfest on the album and it turns me off. I think it lacks swagger and balls that the early albums had.

T-_Bone said...

Fire Down Under slays Thundersteel for sure. Mark, given your taste I think you would like Fire Down Under.