Riotgod
Invisible Empire

January 2012
Released: Janu, Metalville Records
Rating: 1.5/5
Reviewer: Carlos Llanas

Riotgod is a band consisting of two Monster Magnet members. Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino. I had a chance to listen to their second album "Invisible Empire", and I was pretty damn displeased with the entire thing. Here is why.



The album cover isn't very good. It lacks originality. It's a crest of a two headed bird holding an axe in one claw and a sword in the other. A an eye is also on the birds chest. Of course, there has to be fire all around too. It looks too typical and very computer generated; I was not impressed. The album cover wasn't the only thing typical on this album. The song titles could have been a bit better too. Song names like "Rebirth", "Breed", "Fool", "Lost", added no excitement to the album.



I didn't like their sound very much either. It was very plain from start to finish. The album has some "generic radio station" sounding tunes. For example, the song "Lost" sounds like a rip off of Soundgarden or Alice in Chains...something along those lines. I say no thanks. I found it extremely bland. I can see what they are trying to do; Hard Rock/Alternative Rock/Stoner mix just doesn't sound right to me. I've never been a huge fan of Alternative Rock, but I can tell when something sounds over done and cheap. The only song I didn't dislike was "Breed", it had a relatively heavy tone, a driving tempo, but very repetitive. The song "Gas Station Roses" was the most annoying to me. The structure, vocals, lyrics, all had me struggling to listen to the song in its entirety



Like I said before, the only thing I kind of liked was the guitar sound on some songs. The album had a Led Zep tone on some of the tracks which was nice to hear. Sadly, It wasn't enough.



Closing thoughts...I would pass this up. I wouldn't consider it metal at all. It isn't worth your time unless you like falling asleep or listening to Alternative Rock trying to be somewhat heavy. Seriously, some songs sound like they could be used in a "Brand New Exciting Car" commercial. It was hard to enjoy this big heap of boring.