NEW UPCOMING ALBUM RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT!
New release from: RIOT V – Mean Streets (April 12, 2024)
UPDATE (from Riot V Facebook with minor editing): Wow! RIOT Mean Streets album release pushed back due to overwhelming pre-orders! Now April 12 the World will RIOT!!!
Thank you so much Metal Warriors!
(*as originally reported on Blabbermouth (with minor editing)) RIOT V, the band featuring members of legendary metal pioneers RIOT, will release a new studio album, Mean Streets, on February 16, 2024, via Atomic Fire Records. The follow-up to 2018’s Armor Of Light contains 12 tracks which were recorded by Bruno Ravel in New Jersey. Ravel also mixed the LP while Bart Gabriel took care of its mastering. Artwork was provided by Gyula Havancsák (ACCEPT, STRATOVARIUS, BRAINSTORM).
The official lyric video for the album’s first single, “High Noon“, can be seen below.
RIOT is a band name that makes every metalhead’s mind ring alert — in a positive way for sure. Many iconic musicians and bands listing them as an important influence, the New York City-born group has definitely paved the way for the hard ‘n’ heavy scene essentially. Their early musical steps — Rock City (1977), Narita (1979), Fire Down Under (1981) and Restless Breed (1982), to only name a few — made them grow fast, following an artist development from hard rock to more metal sounds what resulted in their arguably most iconic record, Thundersteel (1988). The band’s path was unfortunately also marked by many strokes of fate which led to significant lineup changes. Especially the death of founding member Mark Reale made a big impact on the group and eventually, Reale‘s Thundersteel bandmate and songwriting partner Don Van Stavern decided to continue the legacy and came up with an idea out of respect to add “V” (Roman numeral five) for the fifth chapter of the group as well as the recorded singer. 2013 was the year that RIOT V was born! The outfit kept writing and releasing music honouring their legacy — more successfully than ever before. The musical foundation titled Unleash The Fire was followed by another furious album that even made RIOT V hit the official German album chart for the very first time in their prominent history (Armor Of Light reached position No. 27).
Van Stavern, who currently manages and handles affairs for the band, states: “We are extremely excited to release our 17th RIOT record Mean Streets with the mighty Atomic Fire Records label! We went back to the roots a bit on this one with some hard rockers and of course power metal stylings. Our new pre-release lyric video “High Noon” is a song I wrote with Mark Reale in mind. He loved the Old West and wrote songs about it as well [“Restless Breed”, “Gunfighter” etc.] and the music is a reminiscence on Thundersteel/Privilege Of Power! Enjoy, metal warriors, more awesomeness is on the way!”
Vocalist Todd Michael Hall adds: “I am really excited for the people to hear Mean Streets. We are evolving well with one foot rooted in the past and one foot pointing toward to future.” (**taken from Blabbermouth (with minor editing))
Mean Streets track listing:
01. Hail To The Warriors
02. Feel The Fire
03. Love Beyond The Grave
04. High Noon
05. Before This Time
06. Higher
07. Mean Streets
08. Open Road
09. Mortal Eyes
10. Lost Dreams
11. Lean Into It
12. No More
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