Mikeru On Western World Music Today

Riot! is kinda sorta everything you expect coming into it. Whatever hopes one might have had for Paramore to make a real evolution from All We Know is Falling are crushed with one listen to the new disc’s first single, Misery Business . The tune is sugary, distorted guitar-heavy Power Pop, everything that Paramore’s debut was. Sure, Riot! isn’t quite All We Know is Falling pt. 2 but, with Paramore’s ever growing fan base and mega-popular label, you knew the group weren’t going to be taking any major risks. Then again, it isn’t all that bad that Paramore haven’t changed their sound much: their last album was the guilty pleasure you didn’t feel too guilty listening to.

The most noticeable change in Paramore’s sound is a more danceable feel. On That’s What You Get , the band alternate from funky, wah-wahed guitar aided, verses to equally danceable, but much more Pop-Punk, choruses with ease. Fences has a more cabaret-feel, taking a definite influence from the second half of label mates Panic! at the Disco’s album (another synth laden, danceable track Crushcrushcrush also sounds like something Panic! could have written). Fences, despite being a departure from the rest of Riot! still seems natural, and is one of the album’s highlights. Hallelujah (not the Leonard Cohen song) finds Paramore throwing in some electronic “experimentation”, adding soaring synthesizer melodies and brief bouts of electronic drumming to their usual perfectly groomed power chords.