Thundersteel

Riot

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 1, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sbme Special Mkts.
• ASIN: B0012GN3RI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,559 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riot's 1988 Comeback CD Was A Killer, July 4, 2001

By	Benjamin P. Brown (Everett, Washington United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Thundersteel (Audio CD)

Back in 1988, in New York, I received an advanced cassette copy of what was the first Riot album since" Born In America". "Thundersteel" remained in my cassette deck till it literally wore out. This was Riot's first foray into the speed/power metal genre and their efforts were astounding. Featuring a revamped lineup with the exception of mainstay Mark Reale, the new Riot took heavy metal to new technical heights. The title track is absolute 95 MPH speed with a terribly catchy riff. The solo is long and classically oriented with a familliar Accept "Fast As A Shark" like segment. Tony Moore's voice soars high and clear over everything. The bass work by Don Van Stavern is excellent as is the precision drumming by Bobby "The Zombie" Jarzombek." Fight Or Fall" continues the frantic pace. "Fight or fall, in the name of the children, fight or fall in the name of us all" screams Moore, and he means it too! "Sign of the Crimson Storm" is a much slower Sabbath type offering that is excellent as well. "Flight of the Warrior" and "On Wings of Eagles" take us on the manic ride again at 85 MPH. How could a metalhead not love lyrics like "Heat seeker flash headed straight for your heart, one finds the mark and a fireball rocks the sky; men and machines sweet and deadly we are, we rule the wind on titanium wings"." Johnny's Back" is next up. It is very catchy and probably could have been a radio hit for Riot. "Tell the boys to step aside, tell the girls to form a line, the king is back to claim the land again". "Bloodstreets" is a fine ballad, slow and yet powerful at the same time, another "should have been" radio hit. "Run for Your Life" is really the only weak song on the album and it seems like the band needed to fill up four minutes of time on the record. "Thundersteel" concludes in creepy fashion with "Buried Alive (The Tell Tale Heart)", a story of a man who awakens in a coffin at his own funeral. You even hear the sounds of the wake going on outside the coffin! While not a great song, it is good and brings to a close a near-great effort by a very fine group of musicians. This album was not given the promotion it required by CBS and while it charted in Billboard, it died a quick death. The band of course continued battling onward, fighting the good fight and never compromised. Thundersteel is a fine representation of Riot in 1988, or for that matter in 1998. Spend your money on this excellent piece of music.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated Power Metal Classic!, February 13, 2003

By	Mattowarrior "Mattowarrior" (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thundersteel (Audio CD)

Riot's Thundersteel doesn't get the acclaim it deserves. It takes a lot of their Rainbow influenced sound, and combines it with Thrash and Judas Priest influences to come up with something that was in its beginning stages: power metal. And speaking of "Power Metal", Pantera's album of the same name has many similarites to this. They are both worth the effort tracking down. Awesome double bass drums, blazing speed riffs, amazing appregios and Halford type screams await the listener. Its obvious where bands like Hammerfall and (especially) Nocturnal Rites get a lot of their inspiration. This album stands the test of time, and predicted alot of the trademarks of nineties power metal as well. Buy it immediately!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You 5 Star people must not have very high standards!, December 19, 2007

By	JP "ZappaFan" (Macon, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thundersteel (Audio CD)

I LOVE early Riot, especially the classic one-two punch of "Narita" and "Fire Down Under", but Rhett's "Restless Breed" hair metal posing turned me off so much I gave up until earlier this fall. I knew there was other, later, better Riot out there but simply had too much other, already known to be better, music to spend my $$ on.

So I finally got this based on all the 5 star recommendations here on Amazon and all I can say is I am glad I bought a used copy and you people must not have very high standards at all!! Based on the assumption that "Fire Down Under" IS 5 stars and "Narita" and "Army of One" are 4, this is 3 stars AT BEST!!!

Don't get me wrong, it isn't that bad, better than the 83-86 poser stuff but, with ALL the great stuff out there to spend my time listening to, I doubt I'll be listening to this much! And, being 88, you can still hear the hair metal in it. And I don't really like the singer - WAY too helium voiced, reminds me of the original Fates Warning singer. Overall, just a little too close to "B-budget Queensryche clone" for my tastes!! Considering they had their own, unique style in the early 80s I have to wonder why they even decided to go in this direction!

Heck, the 2006 release, "Army of One", is FAR superior to this, too bad Amazon lists it as an overpriced Import only (even the used copies are $18-25!!). You can definitely hear the influence of recent musical happenings in the music on that one!!

Bottom line: For hardcore Riot fans or diehard hair metal fans only. And even if you ARE a hardcore Riot fan, getting this before "Fire Down Under", "Narita" and "Army of One" is downright CRIMINAL!

On a sidebar - yesterday I read that the original singer, Guy Speranza (the good one), died of cancer!! So, between him and Rhett Forester getting murdered.....seems like they have a Spinal Tap drummer thing going on....not sure I'd want to be a singer in this band :)