Band:	Riot
Album:	Army Of One
Style:	Hard rock, Heavy metal
Release date:	July 12, 2006
A review by:	Jeff

01. Army Of One
02. Knockin' At My Door
03. Blinded
04. One More Alibi
05. It All Falls Down
06. Helpin' Hand
07. The Mystic
08. Still Alive
09. Alive In The City
10. Shine
11. Stained Mirror
12. Darker Side Of Light
13. Road Racin' [live] [Japanese bonus]

It's always good to see that a band, which started its career in 1977, is still able to release good releases 29 years later! Incredible right? Only some few ones are able to do it and Riot is in this list. Even if the band always got a success a lot more important in Japan than in Europe I have the feeling that their new album could become really famous in Europe, especially when you know that Mike DiMeo will be also now the singer of Masterplan.

The fact that Mike DiMeo is now the new singer of Masterplan will probably be a fantastic help for Riot. Well, this band is not unknown of course but they didn't get here the success that they deserve and if this new position in the already cult German combo will be a good way for Riot to catch a lot of new fans I'm sure that the quality of their new release "Army Of One" will help a lot too.

"Army Of One" is a cool album of melodic Hard Rock. If their previous release, "Through The Storm" was a bit more "FM", the music of the band is a bit more heavier this time, though it's not back to the Heavy Metal music that the band used to play in the past. But well, even if it's Hard Rock, it doesn't mean that it is bad and uninteresting, at the opposite, "Army Of One" is full of powerful catchy songs with also some ballads and damn the voice of Mike DiMeio is simply awesome. With a lot of charisma, this guy is able to sing with a clean and sometime bluesy voice full of purity and emotion, if you don't know him yet, you can be sure that you'll discover an amazing singer. This "strong point" is perfect in addition of the cool melodic catchy music that Riot manages to write for this new album.

If you like Heavy Metal or if you like Hard Rock a la Whitesnake and of course if you want to discover the new singer of Masterplan, have a look on this release. The album is full of good songs, and even if it's not better than their fantastic "Sons Of Society" it will be for sure one of the best Hard Rock release of the year 2006. Fan of melodic music, don't miss this one!