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Riotgod, Invisible Empire: All Tomorrow’s Todays

For their second album through the German imprint Metalville Records, native New Jerseyan Monster Magnet offshoot Riotgod present a sound that is crisper, tighter and more assured than on their 2010 self-titled debut. is also more directly derived from the stoner/heavy rock vein than was Riotgod (review here), and shows clear intent even in its track listing. Each of the album’s two presented “sides” – in quotes because it’s a CD release and at 59:31, it’s too long to fit on a single LP – ends with a ballad, those being “Gas Station Roses” and “Rebirth,” that through their mere placement set themselves as the cornerstones of what Riotgod is looking to accomplish their second time out. In terms of songwriting, the four-piece doesn’t seem to want to stray too far from the straightforward, well-structured verses and choruses they presented the first time around, but both the guitars of Garrett Sweeny and the vocals of Mark Sunshine offer more diversity, with the rhythm section of bassist Jim Baglino and drummer Bob Pantella (they being the Monster Magnet contingent) keeping a consistent and forward-pointed push whether it’s the darker, moodier chug of “Crossfade” or the grander emotionality of later cut “Loosely Bound.” At just under an hour, Invisible Empire feels long, and some songs work better than others, but each of the total 12 seems to justify its inclusion through diversity, however subtle it might be, whereas with the self-titled that wasn’t the case. If that’s to be the form of Riotgod’s progress, I’ll take it.

The album begins with the formidable swagger of “Breed,” and that sets a tone of classic rock appreciation that the rest of the songs bear out, both riff-wise and in Sunshine’s vocals, which are stellar in their performance but too forward in the mix. His voice has that ability that Chris Cornell had at his peak to just contort seemingly at will and jump in register to what feel like places it shouldn’t be able to jump. He throws some John Garcia-type grit into the approach as well and manages to shift to suit the music, as on the swaying “Firebrand.” As Pantella keeps steady waltz time on the drums and Sweeny noodles a subdued verse, Sunshine takes charge of the melody and caries the track into its chorus, which is among the most effective on Invisible Empire. True, some of the melodies can seem repetitive – more than once through the Alice in Chains-esque backups on “Fool” and they begin to feel overused – but Sunshine could carry this band if he needed to. Fact is, however, that he doesn’t need to. As the ballsier riffing of “Fool” and “Crossfade” work in ‘90s-style distortion behind their verses, the music more than stands up to the vocals, however more prominent the latter might be mix-wise. With “Slow Death,” as with “Breed,” Riotgod modernize a classic approach in a way not so dissimilar from what European tour and labelmates The Quill did on their 2011 offering, Full Circle.

Whatever dynamic they’re working within, though, Riotgod seem to have shifted their focus to more suit that specifically Euro brand of heavy rock methodology. They did most of their touring in support of the self-titled in Europe, and have already been back in support of Invisible Empire, which was also released months earlier overseas than domestically in North America (Nov. 2, 2011, as opposed to Jan. 31, 2012), so it’s not necessarily surprising some capitulation to that market or influence from the European scene – admirable as it is to those of us on the outside of it – would show up in the music. As the Zeppelin-style acoustics of “Gas Station Roses” give way to “Tomorrow’s Today” to start the second half of Invisible Empire, I’d be just as willing to believe Riotgod were from Norway as from Jersey, although that same song at five and a half minutes feels longer than it needs to be, particularly as compared to the Kyuss-esque momentum of “Saving it Up,” which follows. “Saving it Up” (3:45) is the shortest inclusion on the record but for the classically prog-folk closer “Rebirth,” and leaves no room for any dip in the immediacy. It’s probably also the one cut on Invisible Empire that I actively wish sounded dirtier. Where the rest of what Riotgod is doing stylistically seems accessible and commercially viable enough to suit the somewhat staid and professionally clean production it’s given, “Saving it Up” sounds like it wants to be rawer and more live-feeling than it is.

That doesn’t hold true for “Loosely Bound,” however, the semi-balladry of which mirrors that of “Firebrand” earlier and sets up the richest chorus on the album to come with “Lost.” Where other tracks have their ebbs and flows between the verses and choruses, and “Loosely Bound” and “Slow Death” touch on linear builds, “Lost” most effectively utilizes the structure in a way that feels like it belongs at the end of the record. Were it not for the skill with which Sweeny’s guitar and Sunshine’s vocals are layered on “Hollow Mirror,” I’d say “Lost” should have been the closer, but the vibe on “Hollow Mirror” is more suited to a finale, which leaves the actual closer – the aforementioned “Rebirth” – as a sub-psychedelic epilogue, led into by a little under three minutes of backwards noise that fades in and out again after the conclusion of “Hollow Mirror.” It seems like an easy pull from a song where the drums are absent and Baglino’s bass is relegated mostly to single notes, but what really stands out in listening to Invisible Empire is how much of Riotgod’s personality comes through in the performances of Sweeny and Sunshine. Obviously, the bulk of the band’s profile comes from Baglino and Pantella being tenured in Monster Magnet (Sweeny also filled in on guitar in the absence of Ed Mundell), and while those two both play very well – and I mean that with none of the pat-on-the-head condescension with which it might read – the melody brought forward in the vocals and guitar is essential to making the album work as well as it does in the places where it does. Their process still needs some refining, but the maturity they’ve shown in just a year’s time (though at least some of the material on the self-titled was older than the album’s release, and I’d expect some of these songs date further back than others as well) speaks well for Riotgod’s case as an entity unto itself. As a matter of personal preference, I’d be interested in hearing the material presented with more of a natural feel, but there’s no arguing with quality songwriting, and Riotgod prove here they’re able to maintain consistency in a variety of moods and tones.

Riotgod’s website

Metalville Records

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2 Responses to “Riotgod, Invisible Empire: All Tomorrow’s Todays”

  1. Milk K. Harvey says:

    Sunshine’s voice makes this work stand out. Actually I’d not heard such a distinctive voice in a while.

  2. Milk K. Harvey says:

    But’s annoying after the 4th song. I don’t know what they’re aiming for now.

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