RIOT – Signs With Nuclear Blast Records

Nuclear Blast Records is proud to announce the signing of cult New York Heavy Metal act RIOT (a/k/a Riot V). Hardly any other metal act has such a long and absorbing history behind it. Since the quintet formed in 1975 they have been hit by several severe strokes of fate during their long career. With Rhett Forester (R.I.P. 1994), Guy Speranza (R.I.P. 2003) and Mark Reale (R.I.P. 2012) – three deceased members have left their mark on the four decades of Riot’s band history.

Since their legendary debut album “Rock City” (1977), Riot has released numerous heavy metal classics, including ‘Fire Down Under’ (with classics like ‘Swords And Tequila’), their masterpiece ‘Thundersteel’ (1988), and the unforgotten ‘The Privilege Of Power’ (1990).

After the death of Mark Reale and the departure of Tony Moore, Todd Michael Hall (from Michigan, USA), completed the line-up of the band, which in the meantime performed under the name of Riot V under the auspices of the two long term members and main songwriters Donnie van Stavern (bass) and Mike Flyntz (guitar). With the critically acclaimed “Unleash The Fire” (2014), a pure power metal jewel once again underlined the musical importance and influence of the quintet.

Many artists name-check Riot as an important influence of their musical career and have paid tribute to the power metal godfathers on multiple occasions. The list is long and includes several well-known acts such as HammerFall (“Flight Of The Warrior”), Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody (“Thundersteel”), Axel Rudi Pell (“Warrior”) and newcomers such as Night Demon (“Road Racin”), Alpha Tiger (“Flight Of The Warrior”), Savage Master (“Swords And Tequila”) and Stallion (“Rock City”).

“Riot V is proud to announce our union with the mighty Nuclear Blast label! Two true metal visionaries meet to unleash an assault on all you metal warriors of the world! Its really awesome to be on “THE” metal label and have so much respect and excitement between us. We are in great hands and it’s always nice to have a mutual vision of what this band needs to be thrust back onto the metal battlefield and with our thousands of metal soldiers supporting and fighting with us. This will be the start of a great relationship – and it doesn’t hurt that some of the Nuclear Blast staff are long-time fans! Now let’s start a riot! Shine On!”, commented Don van Stavern.

Riot is busy recording the follow up to the highly acclaimed come back record “Unleash The Fire,” which entered the Hard Rock 100 Billboard charts at #75 and Rolling Stone Magazine rated with 4/5, while most media including Burrn!, Rock Hard and Aardshock dubbed it album of the year! The new disc will be released in spring 2018 and production duties will be handled by producer whiz Chris “The Wizard” Collier (Metal Church, Flotsam & Jetsam, Slipknot, Korn etc.).

The new songs promise to please fans of the “Thundersteel” era of RIOT, as main song writer and long time Mark Reale music collaborator Don Van Stavern undertakes a lot of the writing as he did on “Thundersteel,” “The Privilege of Power” and the latest offering “Unleash The Fire.”

Don van Stavern adds: “This next offering will please long time fans and create new ones, as the material is fresh and Power Metal at it’s finest.”

The members of Riot truly are metal soldiers and will keep marching and fighting the good fight to bring you the music you’ve come to know, love and expect from Riot.

Riot will be playing some European shows in December:

01.12. ES Valladolid – Sala Porta Caeli
02.12. ES Barcelona – Sala La Nau
03.12. ES Irun – Sala Tunk
05.12. CY Nicosia – Red Live Club
06.12. GR Thessaloniki – Eightball
07.12. GR Crete Heraklion – Cine Studio
08.12. GR Athens – Kyttaro
09.12. It Rome – TBA

Source: Metalunderground

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