Riot - Immortal Soul

Published October 30 2011

*=Staff's pick	Riot* Still Your Man Crawling Wings Are For Angels* Fall Before Me* Sins Of The Father Majestica Immortal Soul Insanity* Whiskey Man Believe Echoes

Genre	Power Metal	Tony Moore	Vocals
Tracks	12	Mark Reale	Guitar
Running time	53 Min.	Mike Flyntz	Guitar
Label	Steamhammer/SPV	Don Van Stavern	Bass
Release	31 October 2011	Bobby Jarzombek	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Producer	Bruno Ravel
Similar artists	---

Riot are back with their so called Thundersteel lineup, over twenty years from the two releases Thundersteel and The Privilege Of Power. Most fans appreciates this move, because these two power metal releases set a mark in Riot's career and when they reunited a couple of years ago, many fans wanted them to record a new album with this lineup.

…and they got it. Immortal Soul starts with one of their fastest songs ever recorded, called Riot. A power metal song to one hundred percent, and no surprise considering this lineup's two earlier albums. Track number two, Still Your Man, sounds like a rip off from themselves in a good way and should have easily fitted on above mentioned albums as well.

I'm not going to go through every track, but the more I listen to this album, the more I find riffs, melodies etc close to this lineup's past efforts. I also hear that what Riot do best is playing fast songs, simply because songs like Wings Are For Angels and Riot are among the best songs on the album and in another league than hard rock songs Crawling and Whiskey Man, which both feels a bit misplaced.

Most songs are good, but they don't stick like glue as I was hoping they would do. Honestly though, how many comeback albums have been up there with their predecessors who made a band known, or even famous? As long as they stick to their power metal, I'm more than satisfied, so I'm wondering why they have mixed this with songs that would have been more suitable for Riot's earlier releases?

So is this album worth buying? If you like this lineup, yes. If you never heard Riot before you should probably start with Thundersteel and then work your way up to this release.