Artist: Vicious Rumors
Title: Razorback Killers
Genre: Thrash / Heavy Metal
Release Date: 25th March 2011
Label: Steamhammer/ SPV
Album Review
VICIOUS RUMORS have been around for some time, since the 80s in fact. In their earlier days, they were putting out album after album of heavy metal glory like it was no problem, but recently it seems like they’ve slowed down a bit. Their last album saw the light of day in 2006, so it has basically been five years since they’ve put anything out. Their latest album, ‘Razorback Killers’, isn’t much different from their previous works, except that it features a new vocalist who does quite well (for some reason the band seems to keep trading out singers every two years or so). The music is still a mix of heavy and thrash metal, but these guys have not lost their touch.
Tracks like ‘Razorback Blade’ and ‘Blood Stained Sunday’ are fast and aggressive in the thrash metal vein with harsh, echoing clean vocals that sound like typical thrash or heavy metal styled howls, whereas other tracks like ‘Murderball’ and ‘I Want You’ are slower and focused more on a catchy, chugging rhythm that just slug away like a JUDAS PRIEST or ACCEPT album. The solos are impressive, but in the end it isn’t anything that fans of this sort of music haven’t heard before. ‘Let The Garden Burn’ is the only track that really separates itself from the rest due to its more ‘anthem based’ quality and group chorus, which really works to a great effect overall. It is almost along the lines of groove rock/ metal, and adds a bit more depth to VICIOUS RUMORS’ style overall rather than making it seem like they just are trying to recreate the past from earlier successes.
There are no ballads here, no soft songs as some might expect from heavy metal. This just balls to the wall aggression with the right amount of catchiness to the riffs. VICIOUS RUMORS may be older but they still sound like they did in their prime. Of course, for those that have heard them for so long may be slightly disappointed they took so much time to create an album that sounds like it could have been done in two years instead of five; there isn’t much to be said about experimentation on this album as far as music goes. However, the spirit of heavy metal is still fresh here, and most likely older fans, along with the new ones, will probably have no complaints because so far mostly everything the band has done has been going well so far, so if it’s not broken, don’t start trying to fix it, because it probably will get broken in the end...
Tracklist
01. Murderball 4:08
02. Black 5:56
03. Razorback Blade 4:12
04. Blood Stained Sunday 5:50
05. Pearl Of Wisdom 6:30
06. All I Want Is You 4:27
07. Axe To Grind 3:37
08. Let The Garden Burn 5:05
09. Rite Of Devastation 4:21
10. Deal With The Devil 7:03
Line-up
Brian Allen - Vocals
Geoff Thorpe - Guitars
Kiyoshi Morgan - Guitars
Stephen Goodwin - Bass
Larry Howe - Drums
Website
http://www.viciousrumors.com/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10
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