I can’t imagine what it's like to lose a band mate. Riot, a band with five decades of history, has had to deal with this sort of tragedy on three separate occasions. Tom Warrior may have been correct in his estimation that only death is real, and unhealthy living and the spectre of disease has contributed to the premature passing of some members of the metal community, but even the oldest of dudes in Black Sabbath are still younger than my parents and sprightly enough to be reneging on final tour promises. Death may be all that we as human beings can count on, but that doesn’t make it any less shitty when it happens.
To wit, I’m declaring 56 too young to be taken from this mortal coil. Though, after battling aggressive Crohn’s Disease the majority of his life and succumbing to its complications in January 2012, Riot guitarist Mark Reale had a good run and squeezed more than his share of lemonade out of the lemons life handed him. He originally formed the band way back in nineteen-seventy-fucking-five and withstood an unimaginable rollercoaster ride of a career which, in some weird way, culminates in the band continuing onward under the Riot V moniker with Unleash the Fire and the blessing of the Reale family/estate.
Reale was already ravaged enough by Crohn’s during the writing process of previous album, Immortal Soul, that his participation was limited and the story remained the same as album number fifteen was being put together. Bassist Don van Stavern, who was an integral creative force behind late 80s classics Thundersteel and The Privilege of Power and returned to the band in 2008, has his thunderous and steely stamp all over this album, especially the masterful manner in which they bounce between flashy, neo-classical arpeggios and recognizable power metal chord progressions that give even more room for vocalist Todd Michael Hall to poke the tits of mezzo-sopranos the world over with memorable phrasing passages that make his air-raid siren excursions not just tolerable, but welcome.
There’s an unsurprising reference to the late 80s in songs like “Ride Hard Live Free” and “Metal Warrior” where elements of prog and/or thrash metal are buffered by natural, silky smooth transitions and a ping-pong-ing between bits of chromatic atonality, dirty galloping grooves and foot-on-monitor triumph in “Fall From the Sky” and the title track, which illustrates a finger on the pulse of modernity and that DragonForce may not have got all their moves from video games. Where the band falters slightly is their easing up on these variables for mid-paced cock-rocker “Kill to Survive” and the ridiculously hokey, but undeniably catchy, “Land of the Rising Sun.”
As expected, and considering the tragic events colouring unleash the fire’s back-story, there are a variety of direct and indirect tributes to Reale in the form of “Metal Warrior,” “Immortal” and the live bonus track featuring the guitarist on a live version of “Thundersteel.” The most obvious nod to their fallen brother is “Until We Meet Again,” which unfortunately is a slap-dash, below-par, melodramatic ballad that’s difficult to single out as such because it is an obvious eulogy. But Hall’s attempts at salutary solemnity come across more like poorly written high school poetry backed by easy listening forced through a distortion pedal. As much as I hate to say it, a bad song is a bad song. But on the other side of the coin, a good album is a good album.
8/10
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