Quiet Riot
seemingly came out of nowhere in 1983, racing up the singles charts with their over-the-top cover of
Slade
's
"Cum On Feel the Noize"
and crashing the
Billboard
album chart's number one spot with their multi-million-selling
Metal Health
LP -- the first
heavy metal
record to ever do so. Prior to their "overnight success,"
QR
had been toiling in relative obscurity for years, so that by the time they finally turned the corner,
's meteoric success must have surprised the band even more than it did their critics and newfound fans. Though it has received its fair share of criticism,
isn't nearly as average as some would have you believe. Say what you will, but the album's title track continues to deliver after all these years. With its crushing guitar riff, inane lyrics, and goofy bravado, it's
personified in all its glorious, ridiculous excess. The surprisingly laid-back groove of
"Don't Wanna Let You Go"
follows the storming
"Cum On Feel the Noize,"
which leads into the slightly '50s-ish
"Slick Black Cadillac,"
a rehashed early band favorite.
"Love's a Bitch"
closes side one with plenty of venom and attitude, but despite a valiant attempt by the driving coulda-been-a-hit
"Breathless,"
side two falls way short of the mark. Even though
"Run for Cover"
is quite a stomper, the closing triplet of
"Battle Axe"
(
Carlos Cavazo
's half-assed guitar showcase),
"Let's Get Crazy"
(downright embarrassing jock
rock
), and
"Thunderbird"
(painful sub-
Journey
balladry) tend to understate the hugeness of the occasion. Still unquestionably the band's best effort,
would eventually earn one-hit wonder status thanks to
's inability to deliver anything resembling a decent follow-up. [A 2001 CD re-release added two bonus tracks.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia & John Franck