Since most of you guys are Paramore fans and I recently picked up the album, I thought I'd review it (both for kicks and to help you guys if you're on the fence).

I'm going to try and make this as professional-sounding as I can and actually offer some solid opinion in this, so here goes!




"Riot!"- Paramore
Release- June 12, 2007
Length- 38:47
Label- Fueled By Ramen

From the label whose popularity has skyrocketed in a short time (with Fall Out Boy probably the one to blame), people have begun to have high expectations for Fueled By Ramen fans. While Riot! is certainly not album of the year, it's definitely worth a listen.

Starting off with a strong beat in For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic, Paramore shows how they've matured since their last album and more or less refined their sound. The lead-off song basically tells you what you're in store for, so if you don't like Pessimist, you probably won't like the album as a whole.

Many of the songs are sing-a-long-catchy, which is a hard feat to accomplish. Hayley Williams (the main singer) pumps plenty of energy into each song and is the biggest factor of the band. She's probably one of the better vocalists in bands today, but isn't quite the Stephen Christian (lead singer of Anberlin) when it comes to vocal delivery. Nevertheless, Hayley's singing is much better than average and you'll enjoy her vocals throughly.

One main gripe is that there isn't any killer song in the album. Sure, it's got Misery Business and crushcrushcrush, but none of them deliver the punch of songs like Godspeed (Anberlin) or Suspension (Mae). When wrapped up in an 11-track package, the songs perform well, but if you're expecting a one-song wonder that you'll replay 200 times, don't pick up Riot!.

Throughout the album, each song is more of the same. That's more of a blessing than a curse, but sometime through the album you'll wonder if Paramore has anything else to showcase. Hayley's voice almost drowns out the instruments at times, so you might be stuck just listening to the vocals for a good chunk of time and wondering where the slick guitar performance is (Misery Business does well, instrument-wise, though.)

Riot! does very well when you consider the tail end of the album, though. We Ar e Broken slows things down a bit and lets you focus on Hayley's vocals more. Plus, both Fences and Born For This are at the end of the album, and majority of Paramore albums out there will enjoy crushcrushcrush. My main complaint about the song is that it sounds like it'll burst into a whole rush of instruments and vocals, but instead it ends up holding back and you never get the rush you're expecting.

Fences and Born For This will be the songs that make sure you go back and run through the album again. They're both catchy (especially Fences) and head-banging-awesome (Born For This). If you're looking to iTunes the best songs, pick up the two aformented songs, and you'll probably enjoy the fan-favorite Misery Business.

Overall, a good adjective for Riot! is "solid". It has some great tracks and good vocals, but a few minor quibbles prevent it from being "omgthisthingistotallyawesome"-awesome. Chances are you'll like Riot!, so go ahead and pick it up (preferrably the legal way).

Final score- 8.3/10

Other reccomended albums-

"The Everglow"-Mae
"Cities"-Anberlin
"Two Lefts Don't Make a Right... But Three Do"-Relient K



-- Edited by Lock at 20:14, 2007-10-19