What kind of music do you think a band named RIOTGOD would play? Brutal Death Metal?  Grindcore? No but RIOTGOD surprises you with its unadulterated Hard Rock. While most modern Hard Rock bands have screaming vocals having shades of Heavy Metal, but RIOTGOD just plays it their way and is one the best classic Hard Rock bands to emerge in the recent times.

Driven Rise is the debut of RIOTGOD, a new band formed by drummer of MONSTER MAGNET- Bob Pantella. Formed in 2007, these rockers from Red Bank, New Jersey have created a niche for themselves with their unique blend of Hard Rock and Stoner Metal. With regular melodies, the guitars are fast without being fierce and the guitars are mostly of low tempo as you would imagine with a Stoner band. The vocals of Sunshine shift between sharp and lazy with some occasional solos which don't sound pretentious by any means. The drums are fast enough for a Hard Rock band and the Bass does pop out once in a while to create enough "riot" to your ears. Some of the songs start of the intro with a totally lazy melody without sounding like Grunge before going back to the band's Hard Rock roots. "Positronic" has to be my favorite song with its heavy sound and groovy solos. But the last song "Beg for power" over does the whole process and ends up being a more than 7 minutes song and I think the band would have done a lot of good for itself if it just kept it simple and short. The production work done at Pentella's studio in Keyport, New Jersey in summer 2013 is pretty good and works well for this type of music.

Most bands of Hard Rock stay with their Rock music roots or try to touch a bit of Heavy Metal, but RIOTGOD doesn't follow the norm and as mentioned earlier creates its own path touching Stoner Rock and Psychedelic Rock too with its lazy elegance. It would be difficult to embrace this album if you are not into Hard Rock or Stoner, but having said that the album, though lazy as a whole, doesn't bore you and brings in enough flavor and variety to keep you hooked to it (which is why I'm unable to compare this album to any other Hard Rock band I know) and is best enjoyed with a bong or in a journey!