HARD RIOT seems to know of only one way of playing their music, loud and into your face and they get it almost right. Bringing their 2^nd full length album, these rockers from () bring in a heavy Hard Rock album, but does it stand out? Let's see.

Bringing the heavy music right from the first song "Blackout", there are some good interesting riffs, but on closer listen to the music, you will find that it's the clean screaming vocals of Michael Gildner is the stand out here, and it's the vocals that really elevate this album (sound more like the vocals heard in NICKELBACK), more than the riffs, and the riffs, though not bad, are just ordinary, even with the occasional solos. The drums here are just ordinary as well, and sadly don't offer anything new. If you are into bands like GREEN DAY, AIRBOURNE, AC/DC, then you know what to expect here.

The melodic parts are impressive and give an idea what these boys are capable of, as they mix both the heavy and melodic parts together in songs like "Devil's BBQ" and "Last Goodbye", one of the album's better songs. The songs are catchy as they create anthemic feel around them and lyrics are hummable, and you can find Punk influences all over the album, right from the album cover art to the music itself. Just when I thought that the album was going unidirectional, I find a slow song in "Count On Me" and as mentioned above, more than the guitars, it's the vocals that are a stand out here, and that's not a bad thing. Sadly even the Bonus track of the repeated track "The End feat. Richard Sjunnesson" doesn't offer anything different and ground breaking and ends the album more as a relief!

This album is sadly not as good as I expected by the impression I got from the cover art. Though this is not a bad album by any means, it doesn't offer anything worthy of repeated listening even for the fans of aforementioned bands, and the only saviour is the loud vocals, and the occasional guitar solos. It's an album worth checking out, but I guess it won't be on a repeat in your playlist.