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RIOT CITY - Electric Elite - 8.9/108.9/10
Summary
Label: No Remorse Records
Release date: October 14, 2022
User Review
( vote)Canadian Heavy Metallers Riot City are back with their highly anticipated sophomore effort, Electric Elite on No Remorse Records. Electric Elite is the follow-up to Riot City’s highly acclaimed debut release Burn the Night (2019).
Band Changes and Bio
Riot City was formed in 2011 out of Alberta Canada. In 2019, the four-piece roster of Dustin Smith (bass/vocals), Cale Savy (lead vocals/guitar), Roldan Reimer (guitar/backing vocals), and Chad Vallier (drums) released Burn the Night. Riot City has since added lead singer Jordan Jacobs allowing Cale Savy to focus more on lead guitar for this album. Riot City can best be described as rejuvenating the New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound of ripping and screaming Heavy Metal including elements of Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, and traditional Heavy Metal.
No Sophomore Slump Here
The eight-song album has a running time of a little over 45 minutes. Riot City has created an album that carries on the feel of classic ’80s Heavy Metal and added depth to their music when compared to Burn the Night. The production is very well done on this album as the instruments are very well balanced throughout the album. No two songs on this album sound alike and also has a greater depth of feeling ranging from all-out Speed Metal guitars on the opening track, “Eye of the Jaguar” to the mid-tempo heavy yet melodic riffs in “Tyrant”.
The performance on this album is strong from front to back. None of the songs on this album are filler material as there is a well-balanced mix of fast uptempo mix of Speed, Thrash, Heavy Metal songs, and mid-tempo rockers. The rhythm section balances the album and keeps all of the songs on point. Jordan Jacobs’s vocals bring a much stronger and deeper element of melody to Electric Elite compared to Riot City’s debut album. Olof Wikstrand (mixing), Bart Gabriel (mastering), and Antony Blaine of AB Studios did an outstanding with the recording of Electric Elite.
Shining Moments
Jacobs delivers a powerful yet melodic clear delivery and follows up with powerful screams that would make Rob Halford proud on the epic track “Severed Ties.” Cale Savy and Roldan Reimer display tempo changes of fast Thrash guitar shredding yet slowing the tempo with an intricate clean guitar and guitar solo trade-off on the song “Ghost of Reality”. “Lucky Diamond” has a very powerful anthemic guitar riff worth noting as well.
Final Thoughts
Electric Elite is a must-have for Heavy Metal fans who appreciate classic mid-’80s Heavy Metal and if you are a fan of bands such as Night Demon, Judas Priest, and early Queensrÿche (“Queen of the Reich” era).
Tracklisting
1. Eye Of The Jaguar
2. Beyond The Stars
3. Tyrant
4. Ghost Of Reality
5. Return Of The Force
6. Paris Nights
7. Lucky Diamond
8. Severed Ties
Album Lineup
Jordan Jacobs – Vocals
Cale Savy – Guitars
Roldan Reimer – Guitars
Dustin Smith – Bass
Chad Vallier – Drums
I want to like this album a lot more than I actually like this album. Yes it has a lot of great riffs, but I find the lead singer has one style of delivery that gets old after a while. Also, I’m not crazy about their songwriting. I don’t think they do a very good job of writing interesting songs. They rely on a bunch of guitar gymnastics and high range singing, but at the end of the day I found myself getting very bored by the sameness of each song. Not a terrible band or a terrible album, just one that I’m not as excited about as many others that have come out this year.