Hide Article Text (OCR)
By J.J. Syrja Rock City — Riot (Fire Sign Records): For all the abuse that the city of San Antonio takes for not fullyappreciating its diverse cultures, there’s a form of street music — hard rock— that KMAC/KISS FM listeners celebrate day andnight.To these people, dancing and stomping has nothing to do with disco, leisure suits and fake glamor. If they're jumping around, it has been to Riot, a New York City quintet with energy to spare. When asked by Its Only Rock’n'Roll magazine about the response by SA big beat addicts, lead singer Guy Sper-anza remarked, “That blew us away! Outrageous — this town proved itself true. We love it here.”Released well over a yearback, Riot’s first set RockCity offers at least four “made for radio” tracks and a dose of delight as well.Sore spots on the LP are typical of heavy metal’s doldrums (much of it seems to be in the key of G) yet the band gets away with it. Speranza, a very spirited vocalist, provides a rhythmic spark that turns the tempo transitions in * “Overdrive” and the wonderfully rancid “Tokyo Rose into fulfilled playlets. His cheerfulness. oddly enough, limits the success of This Is What I Get.” This song could’ve been the emotional apex of Rock City if Speranza. a fool for his girl no matter what, would only sound bitter. Instead, his feelings never vary and the result is heavily amplifiedpuff.There's a great deal to be said about Riot's concise ness and aU-round style The harmonies on Warrior’’ (with a furiously pumping beat derived from Deep Purple’s ““Fireball”) are first rate as Mark Reale soar together on a stairway of sound Reale and L A. Kouvaris' guitars can chime in harmony or smoke at full throttle, while Peter Bitelli (drums) and bassist Jimmy Iommi not only snare it all down but take it on up.Rock City is available in Seguin; it’s made for boog-eying. For Riot’s appearance here in town Saturday nighi disco will be a meaningless word, but partying won't be.
Newspaper Details
Seguin Gazette
Seguin, Texas, US
Thu, Feb 15, 1979
Page 46
Full Page
Clipped by
San A.
Texas, USA 23 Sep 2020
Other Publications Near Seguin, Texas
Seguin Gazette
Seguin Gazette Enterprise
