A gritty, no holds barred riff-fest which takes absolutely no prisoners from the first note to the last.
Seminal US power metallers with a history stretching back more than 30 years, Vicious Rumors could quite legitimately lay claim to being the only real US answer to the mighty Judas Priest. Granted, other US power metallers have probably had more success in purely commercial terms, but musically speaking it’s a whole other ball game.
Put together with single minded determination by guitarist Geoff Thorpe around the time that the NWOBHM was starting to gain traction in the old world, the band has gone through its fair share of members over the years – Vinnie Moore stuck around just long enough to record debut album ‘Soldiers Of The Night’ as I recall – but if riff driven, old school power metal with darkly twisted melodies is your thing, there are none finer in my opinion (at least not from across the pond).
Recorded on last year’s extensive European jaunt with HammerFall in support of their ass kicking ‘Razorback Killers’ opus, ‘Live You To Death’ is a gritty, no holds barred riff-fest which takes absolutely no prisoners from the first note to the last! Cherry picking just nine of their best songs to make this album must’ve been a hard task for Geoff and the rest of the band, but it’s hard to argue with their choices when you can bathe in the emotional intensity of the likes of ‘Replicant/Digital Dictator’, ‘Let The Garden Burn’, ‘Hellraiser’ and ‘Murderball’ … and what’s more, boy do they go for or it!
‘New’ vocalist Brian Allen (think John Bush meets Zak Stevens with a dash of Rob Halford) seems to have quickly found his sea legs, his bellicose vocal roar whipping both the band and crowd into a real frenzy at times. However, despite the apparent mayhem going on all around them the band are always in complete control, the technical intricacies of their songs still shining through the towering wall of noise. A couple of rousing covers – studio recordings of Priest’s ‘Running Wild’ and Sabbath’s ‘The Sign Of The Southern Cross’ – have been tagged on to the end for good measure, but good as they are, to these ears they’re just frosting on an already irresistible cake!
Plug in and play loud and just pray to God that they bring their brand of nihilistic mayhem to a gathering of the faithful near you real soon!
Dave Cockett
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