Born in America

Born in America is the fifth album on which Riot, around hard guitar riffs, straight, powerful rhythm and Rhett Forrester’s fighting-spirited singing, sounds the force of plain heavy metal. The songs, without over-decorating, keep a hot drive throughout as if fighting. It is the second studio album to feature Forrester. In the power of the opening title track “Born in America,” the dashing “Wings of Fire” and “Heavy Metal Machine” and “Where Soldiers Rule,” there is a sure drive that pushes powerfully forward while holding clear melody, and a cut like “You Burn in Me” conveys the band’s intensity. Though a work made amid adversity, such as friction with the record company, it is a record that strongly conveys the band’s tenacity, never losing the core of its playing. After this work, the band would enter a long hiatus. Powerfully pursuing the appeal of plain, hard-edged American heavy metal over flash, it is an ambitious work — a record capping the Forrester era.