Album Review: Electric Elite by Riot City (No Remorse Records)

Canada’s New Wave of British Heavy Metal inspired Riot City return with their second studio album titled Electric Elite, due out on the 14th of October via No Remorse Records.

Electric Elite follows Riot City’s excellent debut release, Burn the Night from back in 2019 that dropped and garnered high praise for the band. It gathered them a load of cool accolades which, for a debut release must have been a real confidence builder. Album of the month in the German magazine Deaf Forever, Album of the Year in many others with their live performances also gaining them traction off the back of a load of festival appearances and two European tours.

Electric Elite sees Riot City evolve a bit from Burn the Night. They keep their ripping and screaming heavy metal sound but push it a little further with the addition of heavy and power metal elements to their heavy-speed Judas Priest-and-NWOBHM-inspired sound. We also get a new singer with Jordan James taking over duties from Burn the Night’s singer/guitarist Cale Savy who now focuses on lead guitars. Their comrades in arms are Roldan Reimer on guitars, Dustin Smith on bass and Chad Vallier on drums.

Electric Elite was recorded by Antony Blaine at AB Studios in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was mixed by Olof Wikstrand and mastered by Bart Gabriel.

Getting underway with the hyper speed, Eye of the Jaguar, we head straight into speed drums and riffing with lead guitar flourishes. It’s an energetic and enthusiastic way to kick off an album and as the vocals join, prepare to have surrounding glass shattered by the powerful and piercing pitch of the vocals. With a touch of Bruce Dickinson to them, they hit some serious highs but still hold depth and force. The lead guitars are the cherry on top though smashing out blazing leads and a huge solo while the bass and drums pummel out a rapid rhythm. It’s a strong start.

The style continues throughout the album, powerful vocals that mix between mid and high tones with pummelling riffs and drums and intense lead guitars. Beyond the Stars has a bit of a darker feel to the catchy as hell verses with some nicely placed backing too. It’s a crunchier, meatier track but still showers us in all the glory and power of thrash, power and traditional heavy metal. Tyrant is a neat track. It hits you with some really interesting rhythm and melody in the verse before an effective, gang vocal led chorus permanently welds itself to your memory.

The bass is very prominent in the verses and the drums really do deserve another mention because the drummer is going for it. Vocally, damn Jordan Jacobs has some pipes on him. Tyrant also has one of, if not my favourite, solo on Electric Elite. A tough call though as Riot City have packed this album to the rafters with wonderful solos. Ghost of Reality has a sombre melody in the start but builds up to be another furious rager, just with a darker current flowing underneath it. It packs emotion into every highly charged note.

Return of the Force and Paris Nights are strong entries on Electric Elite too. The former really making good use of gang vocals and backing shouts in the midst of its ear-piercing vocals and hair-raising melodies. The latter really gives the Judas Priest influence an airing. The vocals are great here, dropping down a few octaves for the verses making the jump up more effective in the chorus. Another large dollop of backing vocals adds another fine layer to a very layered song that packs in catchy drumbeats, punchy riffs and of course, soaring lead guitars.

The penultimate track is Lucky Diamond which really brings an anthemic feel with the catchy as hell rhythm of the intro section, the powerful vocals and a singalong chorus, not that we are hitting those highs. But hey, we try, we fail and then reach for the air guitar to jam along with the massive solo and intelligent melody poured over the song. Riot City then close out Electric Elite with the mammoth, 10 minute long, Severed Ties.

It’s an epic track. In length and feel. The subdued intro with a darker edge builds up into a crescendo of instruments before the lead guitars take the melody and turn the energy up. Catchy verses, gang vocals and a strong chorus make up large sections of the song but as you could probably imagine, a vast amount of the length is set aside for a phenomenal solo/instrumental that is just magical to listen to. Especially as it then transforms back into a huge, epic chorus. It’s a wonderful track that passes in no time at all and closes out a powerful album.

Riot City invoke flashbacks to the wonder and imagination of the classic ’80s metal albums with Electric Elite. The band’s musicianship has evolved since their debut and the production quality is top notch too. High energy, emotive music chock full of hard riffs, catchy rhythms, soaring vocals and blazing leads. Its nostalgic, yes, but not a recreation of the past. It feels modern, just inspired by the likes of Priest and Maiden. I love the guitars; I enjoy the vocals, and that is interesting because I don’t always love the highest pitched vocals, but I do here, and there are strong riffs and excellent drum skills on show. Electric Elite is a top-quality album that comes with quality tracks and no filler that is sure to bring a smile to any listeners face.

Gran your copy from Riot City’s Bandcamp, here.

Riot City Links

Bandcamp – Facebook – No Remorse Website – No Remorse Facebook