Album of the day: Riotgod – Riotgod

Lovingly pinched from Sea of Tranquility: Hailing from New Jersey, Riotgod exploded onto the hard rock scene with their 2010 self-titled debut. Taking one look at the lineup, it’s obvious that it’s one of the highlights of Riotgod, especially if you’re a fan of Monster Magnet’s rhythm section of Jim Baglino and Bob Pantella. Playing a heavy, riff-driven hard rock style, they are sure to please all fans of the genre. Although the debut leaves much to be desired in the songwriting department, I have to applaud the wonderful musicianship and professional production. Despite my few gripes you’ll read about in this review, this should definitely be on any hard rock fan’s radar.

The sound Riotgod delivers on the debut doesn’t ever go in to uncharted territory, but they play their music with a confident, professional, and fresh approach. Expect to hear a lot of bluesy Led Zeppelin-esque hard rock combined with traditional heavy metal and stoner metal on this release. Again, not the most original thing in the world, but Riotgod’s excellent musicianship and pitch-perfect production make up for their slightly derivative style in the long run.

The only issue that I really have with Riotgod’s album is that it’s surprisingly inconsistent. There are a few great songs here, but most of the album falls in the “average” category. The reason for this compositional setback mostly rests in the fact that Riotgod is a rather straightforward album without much variation. There are a few moments here and there that make you realize how diverse these guys really are, but they are few and far between. My advice to Riotgod is to include a few more tracks that show their varied music style, rather than re-hashing a few uninteresting riff-rock songs.

Continue reading: Review: “Riotgod: Riotgod” – Sea of Tranquility – The Web Destination for Progressive Music!.

Tags: Bob Pantella, Jim Baglino, monster magnet, Riotgod, Sea of Tranquility

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 25th, 2010 at 10:12 am and is filed under 2010, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.