Review: Paradox - Riot Squad | |||||||
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Riot Squad | |||||||
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Label: AFM Records Year released: 2009 Duration: 48:23 Tracks: 10 Genre: Thrash Metal Rating: Review online: January 26, 2010 Reviewed by: MetalMike |
Readers' Rating How do you rate this release? Rated 4.26/5 (85.14%) (35 Votes)
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Review | |||||||
Old school Thrash stalwart Charly Steinhauer and his band Paradox are back with another slab of raging riffage, 2009's Riot Squad. Charly has been at it since 1986's Product of Imagination, never wavering from a formula pioneered by the likes of Megadeth, Overkill and, surely one of Charly's favorites, Metallica (he IS wearing a Master of Puppets shirt on the back of Product... after all.) The follow up to 2008's Electrify, itself a "comeback" release following many years of inactivity, Riot Squad picks up right where its predecessor left off. While that is a good thing, in that you know exactly what you're going to get, it's also a bad thing because Riot Squad has almost no originality to speak of. Standard Thrash riffs counter Charly's barked/shouted vocals over some very generic Thrash melodies. Where Electrify had tracks that reached out and grabbed you by the throat, like "Second over Third by Force" and "Electrify", most of the songs on Riot Squad just sit there like an anonymous group of bullies on the other side the playground, vaguely menacing, but ultimately non-threatening because it is too easy to simply walk away. Riot Squad starts out fairly promising with "Suburban Riot Squad" and "Hollow Peace," two speedy thrashers that, while certainly not blazing any new ground, are catchy enough. By the third track, "Riptide," it is obvious every song on Riot Squad is going to sound exactly like the one before. They all sound like they're in the same key and Steinhauer's monotone vocal delivery gets old quick. There are some excellent guitar solos, but they almost aren't worth the chore of waiting through the rest of the songs for them. Paradox missed the mark with Riot Squad's disappointingly stale songwriting. It is not horrible, by any stretch, but nothing sticks and there is no replay value. Paradox is still a good Thrash band, but you'll need to look back to Electrify or Heresy to see proof. |
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More about Paradox... | |||||||
Review: Collision Course (reviewed by Christian Renner) Review: Collision Course (reviewed by Daniel DGYDP Guerrero) Review: Electrify (reviewed by Daniel DGYDP Guerrero) Review: Heresy (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible) Review: Heresy II: End of a Legend (reviewed by MetalMike) Review: Pangea (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros) Review: Riot Squad (reviewed by Christopher Foley) Review: Tales of the Weird (reviewed by MetalMike) Interview with Charly Steinhauer (guitars and vocals) on October 13, 2009 (Interviewed by Daniel DGYDP Guerrero) Interview with vocalist and guitarist Charly Steinhauer on October 25, 2014 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen) Interview with guitarist and vocalist Charly Steinhauer on November 13, 2015 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen) Interview with vocalist and guitarist Charly Steinhauer on August 19, 2021 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen) | |||||||
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