Condition Critical

Condition Critical is the fourth album on which Quiet Riot, inheriting the momentum of the record-breaking previous Metal Health, again foregrounds thick riffs, bouncing beats and Kevin DuBrow’s belting singing. Rather than devising complex tricks, the band concentrates on the single point of how to create momentum and catchy hooks within short songs. A record faithfully following the previous album’s direction. The catchiness of the light “Party All Night” and the bold momentum of “Mama Weer All Crazee Now,” again a Slade cover, well convey the band’s strengths, while the drama of “Sign of the Times,” the title track “Condition Critical” and a cut like “(We Were) Born to Rock” heighten the work’s appeal. A record letting you fully savor, straight, the open, hedonistic fun of mid-1980s American metal. Though it tends to be hidden behind the previous album’s huge success, its content is truly fulfilling as party rock. On which Quiet Riot’s bright, powerful appeal is in full bloom, it is a momentum-filled glam-metal work — DuBrow’s singing standing out.