Fire Down Under by Riot

Fire Down Under, Riot's third album, came out on Elektra in 1981, and it's the sound of a New York band refusing to file down its edges. Mark Reale, who founded the group in 1975, and Rick Ventura trade guitar blows over Kip Lemming's bass and Sandy Slavin's drums, and Guy Speranza sings the lot like a man with nothing left to lose. It turned out to be his last Riot record.

Getting it into the racks was a fight. The band first cut a version for Capitol that they didn't like, and when Capitol heard the finished record, the label dropped them for being too heavy. Elektra put it out instead, and the speed-metal charge of "Swords and Tequila" proves Capitol's point in the best possible way. "Flashbacks" tips its hat to Neal Kay, the British DJ who went to bat for heavy metal back when the new wave of British heavy metal was breaking.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.