Yeah, sorry to hear about the leak. I was taken aback when I saw it. Well I am buying it when it comes out regardless But christ man, your voice has progressed leaps and bounds. Very impressed.

DRD 4 MA President.

^ hahaha well cheers, but in all honesty, the vocals on that could be far better. vocal sessions were very rushed, with much of my stuff being done in one or two takes. I could have done much f it far flashier and better, i think. The songs are sung differently these days.

Yeah i don't mind that it's available for upload, but it seems it was uploaded by someone who was entrusted with it on the condition they were not to upload it. I was going to upload it for free download just as soon as it was actually released. Feel free to download it, everyone. We will have it on vinyl and CD too if anyone cares.

lol@ Xeogred

I can kind of hear it DRD. Some parts seem iffy, and a lot of the flow gets ruined.

You listen to everything DRD but would you guys cite any major influences? I hear a lot of Fatal Violence in there heh.

Yeah i always get asked this question in interviews for magazines, blogs etc. Reviews and interviewers tell us we sound like anything from Heir Apparent, to Iron Miaden, Helstar, Fifth Angel, Omen, Liege Lord, Saxon and everything in between. I have no idea really. I'm not really sure what our influences are, but you guys round here know what bands i'm into, and what I'm all about really, and i guess as a whole, that makes up my influence going into writing songs, and performing, i guess. USPM, NWOBHM, old Euro metal, whatever. Just good old fashioned HSP really.

Just sounds to me like Nwobhm, and speedmetal drank a little to much one night, fucked like animals, and nine months later had a bastard child called Razorwyre

It's a complex issue with Riot. Ordinarily, with the sole founder member dying I'd say "Sure, lay the band to rest". But the fact is the Thundersteel line-up was pretty much a new band, anyway, (with an old band's name and that one founder member). DVS, the bassist, apparently wrote the lion's share of the music for those albums. And with Immortal Soul, Mark Reale apparently didn't play anything when it came to the actual recordings (which was due to illness, of course). I was surprised at learning this because Mike Flyntz really does sound like Mark on some of the solos... and again, the remaining band members wrote most of the material. So, the fact that they want to carry on the Thundersteel era of the band is fine by me; especially when they've released an excellent album which was largely without Mark's input, and yet very much in-keeping with the Riot style. Hell, if they want to keep on writing more tracks like 'Whiskey Man' and putting almost every other metal reunion to shame that's fine by me.

Besides, it seems as if the band definitely had Mark's blessing to carry on. This certainly isn't a new "Thin Lizzy" cash-in job... it's not like they're gonna go out there and play Fire Down Under in its entirety.

With utmost respect to Mark Reale and his legacy, I saw Riot without him twice and both gigs were absolutely fantastic. I have no qualms with them carrying the flame.

I guess i'm pretty conflicted about it. On the one hand, i think Tony Moore et al could really carry the spirit of this iconic band forward and craft some more great stuff in the vein of the awesome Immortal Soul, but it just seems somewhat empty, or perhaps hollow or transparent without longtime leading force Reale at the helm. Sure, i'll be eager to check out any material the band puts out, but i'm not sure i'll feel the same about it as I do their classic material with Reale. I guess there's no point them renaming their act, but writing/playing the same material they would be under the Riot moniker?

In another sense, continuing the band could very well be the best homage to Reale's legacy you know? I guess it is a matter of waiting to see what they come out with next.


On another note E-X-E's second album is a fine slab of power thrash but I never hear it being talked about. I heard their 87 album and, while it wasn't terrible by any means, it never really left much of an impression compared to this one. I love the guitar tone and the riffs are quite memorable. Vocalist is little weak at times but fits in with that power thrash style nicely. Overall a dark power thrash offering worthy of a mention here I think.

You said it all! These are all great reasons to support the band carrying on and releasing more quality material.

Yeah, I'm on board with the dudes who want them to keep going under Riot. When it seems that THIS is what Reale would have wanted anyway. I love Immortal Soul and they have some seriously talented dudes in the current line-up and I'm keen as a mother fucker to here what they'll come out with next.

The proof is the pudding, really. If they can match Immortal Soul then let 'em go on. The whole continuation of the band feels very honest to me, and not just because they've got nowt better to do with their time. Hell, apparently Flyntz is now looking after Mark's elderly father... seems to me like they've got strong enough personal reasons to do this.

I've got a request to speed metal maniacs. I'm looking for this kind of stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxQZsW0H7LU

Could you recommend some?

Well there you go, the only man who has a say in this. Fair play to them continuing on. Even if the new stuff turns out to be bad, it's not going to invalidate the great stuff that came before.

Agree to disagree. I get that it didn't grow on you, but 'The Scourge of the Light' is a really sincere and, to my ears, subtle and emotionally touching album. Yes, most of the riffs are fairly simple and some even basic, so I can understand the generic feel you mention, but it's not a really riff-driven album, to be fair. There's more focus on the melodies (both the vocal lines and the solos), which in several of these songs I think are pretty beautiful and have their own feel. It all sounds quite familiar rather than having brand-new ideas style wise, sure, it's halfway between 'Chain of Command' and 'Casting the Stones', basically. But it's not a self-parody by any means, and a more than decent late period JP album in my book. It was also a comeback album after a long pause, and one significant line-up change, and there was hope for it leading to more, better things (starting with the tour they canceled). Don't get me wrong, Satan's Host is a lot of fun, and 'By the Hands of the Devil' kicks ass, much more so than TSotL in and of itself, I'm not denying that. I just prefer Jag Panzer's style, and would rather have them being active than Satan's Host right now (the latter have a lot of great elements, but also some more mundane riffs and moments here and there, and the transitions or lack thereof between wildly different styles put me off at times). I'm sure Briody & co would have another 'Mechanized Warfare' or two in them, given the chance; if not an Age of Mastery.

By the way, if I remember correctly, they inexplicably split up shortly after Lasegue inexplicably quit; it's not Conklin who left first. He was already active in Satan's Host in parallel at the time, and it seemed to be working.


Hmm, well, I agree with that, but I feel the old band was more of a free-for-all line-up songwriting-wise, than the one born with 'Thundersteel', which Reale had a clearer leadership over. My sources might be inaccurate, but the credits I know of say Reale actually composed the bulk of the music for 'ThunderSteel' onwards (TS itself has only one song Reale didn't contribute to, even if Van Stavern contributed almost as much, and Moore wrote 2/3 of the lyrics). Take an album like 'InnishMore', for instance, the only current member on it who composed for it, Flyntz, contributed just 2 songs, and the rest is pretty much all Reale, with 2/3 of the lyrics by DiMeo. By contrast, going back to an album like 'Restless Breed' (sic), it's Reale who was the minor contributor, then. He was the main composer of 'Fire Down Under', even though he didn't contribute to the iconic title track, and with the current line-up carrying on, there won't be anyone from that era left in the band. Doesn't feel right from my perspective, in terms of musical legitimacy; even if I understand the more personal kind of legitimacy brought by the fact that Reale himself apparently gave them their blessing before his passing (although is that a fact, or more of a vibe?). To me a band legitimately called Riot should be able to play "Swords and Tequila" without it being technically a cover song. Having said that, I'm sure it's nothing like the tasteless exploitation of Thin Lynott's legacy, of course. These guys surely mean well.


Well, this "Speed Metal Messiah" is more PM than it is speed, really. Pretty good, though, even if I must confess I got bored after a few minutes. So, instrumental power/traditional metal that consists of pretty much continuous lead guitarwork (to the detriment of song progression), somewhat flashy, but not too crazy? Not really well-versed in guitar heroes, sorry. Hopefully someone else will be able to rec you some stuff based on my description, though.

Tony Moore said onstage that they received the blessing to continue playing as Riot from Mark's father. Mark had been in a coma for some time before that, apparently. Couldn't have been an easy decision for them, I'm sure.

re: Riot. If they want to continue, sweet as - just feel a bit weird about it; conflicted n shit. I know what they make will be good either way, but hard to get over the feels of Reale. Non-Midnight CG is the same for me.

re: EXE: Pretty sure we talk about EXE every now and then. Pretty sure theyre a respected eurotrash counterpart in here. From memory i think failsafe and Xeo like that record, me too. And other poxy cunts.

Finally managed to listen to the new Hellwell. It's certainly interesting, if not on the level of masterpieces like Spiral Castle and Voyager. It definitely needs more time to sink in, but "Keepers of the Devil Inn", "Tomb of the Unnamed One", and "The Heart of Ahriman" are awesome so far. I would definitely be interested in some more music in this direction, "The Heart of Ahriman" especially fucking rips. Can't wait for the release of Mysterium, either, and the re-releases of the back catalog sound awesome, definitely hoping to get another OoTA/Roadkill pairing.

@EXE: It's been a long time since I've heard them, I'll have to spin that album again and see if it's any good.

Crystal Viper's new album is pretty damn good. Little late to the party, I know. The dude from Hell makes a really cool vocal cameo too. Beastly stuff.

I haven't heard that one, but their other two albums besides the debut were pretty weak, despite a lot of people saying otherwise. Is this one finally the one that actually has some quality to it?

I think so. A huge chunk of the album kicks ass, frankly. There are maybe one or two tunes I don't enjoy, but yea, I've been rocking it for the past few days quite frequently and it gets more captivating with every spin. It's definitely worth a listen, even if you're a trifle skeptical.

Yeah, I'll have to try it.

In related news I want a new Battle Beast album already.

Needing recommendations for bands similar to (old) Blind Guardian, Helstar, Nevermore and Agent Steel?

You and me both.

@LegendMaker, who wrote the track 'Fire Down Under', then? Checking the credits for Rock City and Narita it seems most of it is a Guy/Mark job with people who appear to be outside writers (or perhaps the other members weren't using their stage names for writing credits). I makes sense that Mark didn't have much input in the Rhett era stuff... cuz those albums are kinda lame from what I remember.

I'm interested to see where this "Tony Moore out/Mike Tirelli in" thing has come from. According to the band's facebook/official website Tony's still in the band.

Battle Beast is really terrible, you two should be ashamed of yourselves.

Bassist Kip Lem(m)ing composed "Fire Down Under" (the song), with lyrics by Guy Speranza (who wrote the vast majority of the lyrics throughout his run, as was the case with fairly much all Riot vocalists). Apart from that one, and the two penned by Rick Ventura ("Feel the Same" & "No Lies"), the rest of the music for that album is either by Mark Reale or by Reale & the band. 'Narita' is practically all Reale's music wise, same for 'Rock City' except with other (ex-)members co-signing a few tracks (precious few tracks in their career were co-written by non-members as far as I know, most of which by long-staying producer Steve Loeb or contacts of his). Overall, the two Forrester albums were just about 1/3 Reale, 1/3 Ventura, 1/3 Forrester & others; Mark just contributed less to 'Restless Breed' (still penned the title track, though) and more to 'Born in America'. And yeah, it's certainly not their best era... and it's probably the point in the band's career at which songwriting duties were shared the most. More so than during the 'ThunderSteel' or later eras.

Also yeah, the fact that Tony "extra 'ThunderSteel' era legitimacy" Moore didn't stick around and was replaced by a technically new singer doesn't help the case of their "carrying the torch" in my eyes either. I would have much preferred a return of Mike Dimeo.

Shame you didn't get to take your time and get the vocal tracks like you wanted em. Does seem a little rough around the edges. Still good stuff though!

anyone have any speed metal/power whatever for working out to? usually listen to just that when I jog or lift weights and my playlist is getting kinda old.

Needing recommendations for bands similar to (old) Blind Guardian, Helstar, Nevermore and Agent Steel?

Check out my band TEMPLE OF BLOOD. Links below. We even have Andre' Corbin from "A Distant Thunder"/"Nosferatu" playing on our upcoming album.

Speaking of which, when IS it coming out?

It came from him being from NY too and they played shows with him years ago, like maybe 5 years ago or so. They never recorded with him and got back with Tony Moore and did an album and a bunch of shows. M-A is wrong and someone jumped the gun here. He should be listed under "live musicians". Mike was diagnosed with something serious I know (can't remember if it was cancer) and hasn't been active in ANY band in years as far as I know.

I wonder if they record another album and do more shows with Tony Moore if people in this thread will still be asking if Tirelli is in the band because M-A says so.

We have a band member who is going through some serious family problems right now and can't make time for the studio. We're trying to be considerate of everyone's situation. Can't give a date until this gets resolved and then we'll have a better idea. Probably will try to shop it to labels for a few months to see if we have any takers.

Ah, that makes sense.

Well, don't pull a Timeless Miracle and fall off the face of the earth on us!

My favorites for this are ALTERED STATE and CAULDRON BORN. And, although some here might hate it, I think "Cowboys from Hell" works well for this too. It's aggressive, well-played, and well-produced.

Ha, nah that won't happen. If it takes too long, we'll have to go around him but I really don't want to. And getting someone else to play his parts will also take time so ...

Well, the obvious answer to me is Yngwie. This song in particular sounds like "Vengeance" or "Rising Force" to me.

Other bands you might like are KENZINER and IMPELLITERI.

So, not sure if these two acts fit well into this thread but I think they are close enough.

I have been listening to these two lately and was wondering what folks here think of them:
ADRAMELCH - Lights from Oblivion
BEYOND FEAR - s/t