With the untimely death of vocalist Kevin DuBrow in 2007, it seemed the book was closed on Quiet Riot’s three decade long career. Frankie Banelli though restarted the band in 2010 with Chuck Wright (bass) and Alex Grossi (guitar) from Rehab’s touring lineup but vocalists rotated through the band until the end of last year when Jizzy Pearl (Love/Hate, Ratt, L.A. Guns, etc.) joined the band. This lineup released the band’s twelfth disc, 10, this past June and the disc also features guest appearances from Rudy Sarzo and Tony Franklin.

While Rehab highlighted Quiet Riot’s 70’s rock influences, which range from The Faces to Spooky Tooth and Led Zeppelin, 10 is a melodic hard-rock album that brings to mind Motley Crue’s self-titled 1994 disc. On this new ten track disc, the first six songs are studio recordings with the new lineup and the final four songs are live recordings with Kevin DuBrow, which are from the last professionally recorded shows that Kevin played.

10 follows in the spirit of Remedy and continues to veer away from Quiet Riot’s “party rock” sounds, with most of this cuts on this new disc being melodic guitar-driven, hard rockers. While Pearl’s vocals are grittier than DuBrow’s, they aren’t that far removed either which makes this disc clearly sound like a Quiet Riot album. The only noticeable difference from the past is that the band now uses group/gang vocals on the choruses.

The disc starts with “Rock in Peace” which sets the tone for the rest of the studio cuts and the band gives gives a nod to their past bringing lyrics from “Metal Health” into the chorus. On “Bang for Your Buck”, the band pick up the pace with a faster, teasing guitar line that sounds somewhat like Van Halen. This new lineup hits their groove with “Backside of Water”, which is a riff-happy hard rocker with pounding drums and brilliant guitar licks. “Band Down” is more groove oriented with the echo on the backing vocals and sounds like it could have come from Motley Crue’s self-titled 1994 release.

The live cuts are an interesting selection and are sort of a mixed bag in terms of sound quality. In an interview with Loudwire, Frankie Banali said: “I picked tracks that were special and of the moment. Let’s just say that there will be a familiar track, two unexpected choices and one that really shows the roots of Quiet Riot and how the band interacted in the live arena.” The live tracks start with “Put Up or Shut Up” from QRIII and then are followed with “Free” and “South of Heaven”, from Rehab. While DuBrow sounds in great form and Alex Grossi plays some stellar leads, the sound quality on these first two tracks is just ‘fair’. Unfortunately, the tracks aren’t well mixed and there are some noticeable sonic limitations, like mic overload and harsh backing vocals. The sound quality is significantly better (through bass heavy) on “South of Heaven” and the almost 10 minute medley of blues covers, “Rock ’n’ roll Medley” sounds phenomenal. This last song/extended jam includes songs from the Jeff Beck Group, Humble Pie and Led Zeppelin.



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Quiet Riot