Hard Riot-Living on a Fast Lane

Pitch Black Records
2012

I'll give you three guesses what Hard Riot sound like and the first two don't count. If you guessed Motorhead & AC/DC inspired biker rock then you my friend can take the rest of the day off with pay. Officially the promo lists AC/DC along with Metallica and the Scorpions but let's be honest for once and say these four young Germans pretty much just stick to the classics of heavy metal and rarely deviate. Is it bad? Well, two ways to look at this one folks. First off this young band who were formed in 2006 in the city of Heilbronn, Germany do loving embrace the timeless sound of hard rock/heavy metal and as such they do a fine job of paying tribute to the classics. Bands like Accept, Black Label Society and Skid Row find their way into Hard Riot's sound and said sound they do quite well. That said the other side of the coin is the fact that none of this is new. It sounds like a billion other similar hard and heavy rock bands and frankly many of these previous acts have done it much better. So it all depends on how you choose to look at this one. Is Hard Riot's debut a sign that hard rock/heavy metal is alive and well in 2012 and there are plenty of young bands embracing this style with love and skill to spare? Or, is the fact that the genre is alive and well again mean that yet again just like with glam before we get stuck with thousands of bands like Hard Riot? I am honestly on the fence with this one. Technically the band sounds tight and play through this record with love to spare. Problem is one song blends into another and the whole album ends up being kind of a blur. Guess when it comes down to it I wanted to love this album for the skill these four guys showed and the love they have for classic bands like AC/DC but in the end I walked away going "been there done that" and feeling nothing.