Crazy Lixx
Riot Avenue
Frontiers Records
2012
Back after two years since “New Religion” the Swedish glam rockers are back with a new work. The bad news is that the original members Joey Cirera (drums) and Luke Rivano (bass) have left the band and were replaced by Edd Liam on bass and Joel Cirera on drums… you can still hear them on the album though.
The band still rocks … as this album has all those glam rock, sleaze metal, hair metal and hard rock elements from the 80s but with an up-to-date sound and a rockin’ production. Probably the guitars are a little bit more aggressive in this album… and some AC/DC features are mixed-up in the band’s Def Leppard meets Kiss meets GnR meets Hardcore Superstar music style. This album has some very good rockin’ songs like: “Young Blood”, “Riot Avenue”, “Fire It Up” (wow Stanley & Simmons would be proud of it), “In the Night” & “Church of Rock”. Definitely, it would be a miss if I didn’t refer to the very beautiful ballad “Only the Dead Know”… a magnificent emotional & catchy song… which has a “That time of Year” by Vinnie Vincent Invasion mood.
“Riot Avenue” may be a decent album… but it’s not as good and catchy as “New Religion”. The bet was to top their previous album… but unfortunately they didn’t make it. Be sure that you will enjoy “Riot Avenue” as well… but it’s a step back, comparing it to the previous one in general. Conceivably, we’ll have to wait for the follow-up album to see if they can actually take that bet…
The band still rocks … as this album has all those glam rock, sleaze metal, hair metal and hard rock elements from the 80s but with an up-to-date sound and a rockin’ production. Probably the guitars are a little bit more aggressive in this album… and some AC/DC features are mixed-up in the band’s Def Leppard meets Kiss meets GnR meets Hardcore Superstar music style. This album has some very good rockin’ songs like: “Young Blood”, “Riot Avenue”, “Fire It Up” (wow Stanley & Simmons would be proud of it), “In the Night” & “Church of Rock”. Definitely, it would be a miss if I didn’t refer to the very beautiful ballad “Only the Dead Know”… a magnificent emotional & catchy song… which has a “That time of Year” by Vinnie Vincent Invasion mood.
“Riot Avenue” may be a decent album… but it’s not as good and catchy as “New Religion”. The bet was to top their previous album… but unfortunately they didn’t make it. Be sure that you will enjoy “Riot Avenue” as well… but it’s a step back, comparing it to the previous one in general. Conceivably, we’ll have to wait for the follow-up album to see if they can actually take that bet…