Solidly built punk album - Hailing from California s central valley, THOUGHT RIOT have accomplished the difficult task of creating music that serves as a platform for social commentary while still providing the listener with an energetic blend of guitar laden punk rock. This duality of sorts allows fans to enjoy them on two different levels, one level is deeply rooted in the concept of persuading a person to experience introspection and conjecture through their intelligent lyrics while the other level is based solely in the theory of music and melody. Regardless, you have a choice. Whichever direction you may choose, THOUGHT RIOT will supply the goods for your listening pleasure. Their most recent effort, Sketches of Undying Will is top notch as far as punk music goes. All the aspects that make punk music great are in this treasure trove of impressive songs. They have the capacity to be stripped down and gritty but they also have tempered their sound with some subtle hints of pop. The gang style choruses are as infectious as any radio friendly punk tune but their harder edged approach sharpens the intensity and stabs your heart with purified passion. From a song structure standpoint, they mixed up the standard punk format with plenty of unpredictable time changes without playing to far outside of the box. There is little doubt that these guys take their music seriously but it seems as if they knew to augment the delivery just enough so it would appeal to more than one style of punk fans. Hence, the twofold appeal. If you are a novice punk fan or a seasoned veteran, THOUGHT RIOT S cd should be in your collection.
sketches of AFI - now that AFI has become an opverproduced studio crap-fest, Thought Riot picks up where they left off. both this and Shattered Mirror Syndrome remind me of AFI s answer that and stay fashionable, which is nice considering all the wanna-be NOFX bands that have run amock since the mid 90 s. in essence, it s hard and fast, as it should be. check em out.
Awesome CD for the politically minded - This cd is a great leap from the band s first cd, Shattered Mirror Syndrome, without losing their own sound as so many bands do in their sophmore debut. Thought Riot has produced a great cd with much deeper lyrics reminiscent of other great punk rock bands. Definitely worth spending 12 bucks on, for those of you who enjoy thinking outside the box...