Riot were often cited as the unluckiest band in world, due to all the misfortune that came their way. Original vocalist, Guy Speranza, left the band after the Fire Down Under record to work as an exterminator, and he died from cancer in 2003. Fun fact, Scott Ian from Anthrax asked him to be the singer in the band before Joey Belladonna. His replacement, Rhett Forester, was shot in a gangland execution. Band leader and founder, Mark Reale, also died of cancer.
The band could not get a record deal no matter how hard they tried. They had to finance this album and the first album (Rock City) themselves as no record company wanted to sign them. This album was picked up in Japan and was released there before anywhere else, mainly due to the title of the album being that of the Tokyo airport. It was released in ’79, three years after their first album, and is a good representation of where they were at at the time. They were heavier on the next record, which opened a lot of doors for them. Even then they managed to screw things up for themselves, and they were strictly second division after.
It’s quite a good hard rockin’ release, and there aren’t really any bad tracks on the album, but there are a couple of stand out tracks for sure. The cover of Born To Be Wild is probably the best version of this classic – it’s been given a nice and heavy transformation. The title track, Narita, is a bit of a speed metal classic and was one of the first tracks to be talked about in those terms. The last track, Road Racin’, would be come a classic live track for the band.
This was the album that saw Riot change from hard rockers to metallers. They took full advantage of the NWOBHM scene in the UK. They toured a lot and the fans loved them in the UK.
8/10 from The Grooveman.
