02. Getaway
03. Roll This Joint
04. Freak Flag
05. Wasted
06. Still Wild
07. Make A Way
08. Renagades
09. The Road
10. Shame
11. Knock 'Em Down
There has been a lot of
controversy regarding Quiet Riot,
mainly in regards to the only 'classic line-up' member being drummer Frankie Banali (no, he's not a founding
member of the band), and his constantly revolving door of musicians, bringing
the credibility of this incarnation of Quiet
Riot into question amongst fans.
Quiet Riot are well known for two main reasons. Firstly, late legendary
guitarist Randy Rhodes played for
them in the late seventies before joining Ozzy
Osbourne. Secondly, with the emergence of MTV, their album Metal Health was a hit in 1983. It
spawned two hit singles, Bang Your Head (Metal Health), and a cover of Slade's Cum On Feel The
Noize. Lead singer and founding member Kevin
DuBrow died in 2007, and Frankie Banali
has kept the brand alive ever since.
A version of Road Rage had been recorded with Seann Nicols (ex Adler's Appetite) on vocals, but he was kicked out before the
release. The band shelved Road Rage,
recruited James Durbin, who's famous
for being on American Idol, and got him to re-write and re-record the vocals.
Having accidently kept up with
the drama thanks to regular updates on Blabbermouth.net,
I was not only interested to hear this album, but I really wanted them to
succeed. Of course, the only way to really succeed would be for this new album
to be an awesome piece of work that would be considered as a gem in the Quiet Riot back catalogue, and
something fans could embrace, allowing the band to ride a wave of new found
success. Sadly, Road Rage falls short
of the mark.
New singer James Durbin is easily the best thing
about Road Rage, despite vocally
sounding very different to Kevin DuBrow.
Sadly, it sounds like the band just re-recorded the vocals, and not the whole
lot as I had hoped, after hearing a version of one of the tracks recorded with Seann Nicols earlier in the year. I
remember hearing it and thinking it sounded like shit, but I was prepared to
give the band the benefit of the doubt. The production on this final version of
Road Rage isn't great to say the
least, and certainly nowhere near as big and powerful as the records many of
their peers have recently released. I criticised the new Vain album for the same reason (read it here). I'm sure to Frankie's ears, it sounds raw and real,
but to mine it sounds cheap, dated, and nothing more than a reasonable demo.
All this talk in the press about keeping the legacy alive, and he seriously
thinks he's going to do that with a record that sounds like this in 2017?
It's not terrible, but
there's just nothing special about it. It's mostly stale and generic, and at
times downright boring. The closest Road
Rage delivers to a killer single is Freak
Flag, which has some really catchy vocals from James Durbin, but it's just not quite there. I think the production
really let's this song down, as it should be the song that delivers Quiet Riot to a new generation. So
close, but no cigar. Why they chose the piss-poor Can't Get Enough as the first single and opening track is anyone's
guess.
I understand that there were a
lot of shitty circumstances surrounding this record, but this isn't exactly a
phoenix rising from the ashes. More like a mutant turkey that no-one wants to
eat. I really hope they get it together, and next time release something that
blows this out of the water.
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