Review Summary: A bump on the road
[Rating raised from 2.5 to 3.0 because I feel I was too harsh.]
After the release of
Nightbreaker, with Mike DiMeo taking on vocal duties, Riot were never able to release another album of the same caliber as
Fire Down Under or
Thundersteel /
The Privilege of Power. It's not like Mark Reale's guitar wasn't there anymore, and the musicians that supported the man definitely weren't to throw away. What the band really lacked was a charismatic frontman that could rival Guy Speranza and Tony Moore, or even Rhett Forrester for the matter. After a couple of albums where the band seemed to be gaining steam again,
Sons of Society sadly brought them back to
Nightbreaker's insecurity.
Sons of Society is, plain and simple, an uninteresting listen. The prior releases that featured DiMeo behind the mic really didn't shine for diversity, but there was a feeling of progression and tightening of the band's chemistry, especially regarding the vocal department. Here, the feeling is gone and the instrumentation can do nothing to hide it. It's probably become apparent by now: the album's biggest problem is the frontman. DiMeo often sounds clumsy and strained, creating many choruses powered by the weaker kind of cheesiness that also carries on through the instrumentation, hindering everything that's going on. Do not get fooled by the colorful artwork and its fantasy themes; It's trying to lure you in with a power metal look that it's likely to catch the eye of Riot's fans. In reality, the music isn't much more than a very melodic heavy metal (?) with some double bass here and there.
The blatant nods to
Thundersteel in "Dragonfire" and the title track aren't of any help, just like the Judas Priest echoes in "Somewhere"'s beginning. Precisely, "Dragonfire" feels like a mix between "Thundersteel" and "On Wings of Eagles", while the title track's chorus features backing vocals reminiscent of
Thundersteel's "Run for Your Life" managing to make them sound even more out of place and goofy. The balanced production and professional playing can't compensate for
Sons of Society's lack of a spark. It doesn't offer any valid novelty compared to any previous DiMeo-era album. Instead, it takes their basic formula and strips it of interesting elements like concept-like (and concept-lite) themes. Not a particulary bad release, but it's simply an average Riot album devoid of a definite direction; one that's hard to recommend in a discography that can offer so much more. Anyway, if syrupy and accessible metal is your thing, feel free to take a look.
