Driven by Sonic Obsession

Although it is instantly audible from what era of Metal Vicious Rumors stems, it’s quite hard to categorize them. Their music probably comes closest to the glorious 1980’s US Power Metal, with all the layers of spectacular guitar work, but especially on this brilliant fourth album of theirs, ‘Welcome To The Ball’, there’s quite some riffs bordering on the more melodic vein of Thrash, think Powermad, Holy Terror and the likes. Still, the band isn’t heavy enough to be a Thrash band. Then there’s the late Carl Albert, whose powerhouse voice was equal parts Hardrock, USPM and Thrash, not unlike Metal Church’s Mike Howe at the time. That accounts for a combination of the best three genres the eighties had to offer, you won’t hear me complain!

Central to any Vicious Rumors record is the downright stellar guitar work by band brain Geoff Thorpe and his fellow axeman, Mark McGee in this case. The NWOBHM-on-speed riffs are all over the place, the soaring twin leads are irresistable and the guitar solos by both men – McGee’s outnumbering Thorpe’s by a hair – are the climaxes to the awesome compositions on the albums. However, the classic Vicious Rumors records – ‘Digital Dictator’, the self titled and this one – are lifted to a higher level by Albert’s charismatic and powerful vocals. I’m not saying Vicious Rumors became worse after his fatal car accident in 1995, but Albert has yet to be surpassed.

‘Welcome To The Ball’ starts out relatively heavily with ‘Abandoned’, not a typical Metal opener in the sense that it’s not a very fast track. However, it does make sense as an opening statement to this record, as some of the faster tracks, such as the awesome ‘You Only Live Twice’ and the almost-Thrashfest of ‘Six Stepsisters’ pass by at exactly the right moment on this record. Other highlights include ‘Savior From Anger’, which has a chorus with gang shouts and great vocal harmonies, therefore containing all the elements of classic Vicious Rumors backing vocals, the powerful closing track ‘Ends Of The Earth’, which spots the best bass lines of the album, ‘Dust To Dust’ and the best ballad Vicious Rumors has ever written: ‘When Love Comes Down’, the definition of a power ballad.

Production-wise, this is exactly what you’d expect from a late eighties, early nineties USPM record. There’s a bright gloss and reverb to the total sound and Larry Howe’s drums in particular, I just have a feeling that the guitars are a bit more ballsy. And of course, the guitar work is basically what Vicious Rumors is renowned for. Interesting sidenote is that the bass is relatively present for a classic Metal album, which makes sense, figuring David Starr’s qualities as a bassist.

If you are a fan of classic, US Power Metal, you need to own this album. And if you’re running off to get it, be sure to pick up ‘Digital Dictator’ and the self-titled as well. This is classy, powerful Heavy Metal in the best Maiden/Priest tradition. Recommended to anyone who likes classic Heavy Metal, but open minded Thrashers may want to give this a shot as well.

Recommended tracks: ‘Savior From Anger’, ‘When Love Comes Down’, ‘You Only Live Twice’, ‘Abandoned’

It’s been quite a while since I last heard a new Thrash album that made my blood boil in excitement. Dew-Scented’s ninth album does just that. The Germans once again succeeded in making a brutal, high-paced Thrash Metal record that thorougly tested the muscles in my neck. Although…Germans? Since ‘Invocation’ two years ago, vocalist Leif Jensen exchanged all the musicians surrounding him for three Dutchmen. A brilliant choice; the guitar riffs Marvin Vriesde provided for this record are nothing less than spectacular.

Dew-Scented has always operated somewhere on the line between Thrash and Death Metal. Though ‘Invocation’ contained all the familiar Dew-Scented ingredients – as always led by Jensen’s trademark bark – the album showed the band moving a bit more towards a traditional Bay Area Thrash sound. And although ‘Icarus’ has a distinctly more European vibe than ‘Invocation’, I’d still say that this is pretty much a full-on Thrash Metal album, only with a Death Metal intensity, characterized by Jensen’s growl and Koen Herfst’s (limited) use of blastbeats.

Vriesde has already filled in for the band on various occasions throughout Dew-Scented’s line-up changes infested history, even playing half of the guitar solos on ‘Issue VI’, and he is truly the revelation of this album. His songwriting is as varied as is possible within the Dew-Scented paradigm, shifting back and forth between neck-breakingly fast passages, slightly more melodic bits (check that solo break in the killer opening track ‘Sworn To Obey’!) and more creeping, crushing midtempo bits (like the amazing ‘Reawakening’, also spotting a guest spot for Dan Swanö). Also, his guitar solos are compositionally the strongest Dew-Scented solos so far, surpassing the Slayer-ish screaming and dive-bombing of many of his predecessors, sometimes even offering a place for a little melody.

Giving Vriesde credit for all good about this album wouldn’t be fair though. Leif Jensen is still infused with the same amount of aggression as in the ‘Impact’ days, Koen Herfst is one of Holland’s best drummers, especially in the Death Metal field, and proves so on this album. Bass has never been a very prominent feature in Dew-Scented’s music – or anyone in their genre, really – but Joost van der Graaf demands his position within the music and fills it well. It all accounts for brilliant Thrashers, such as the surprisingly varied ‘Thrown To The Lions’, the very intense ‘The Fall Of Man’, ‘Gleaming Like Silver’, featuring Rob Urbinati from Canada’s severely and unjustly overlooked Sacrifice on guest vocals, and the aforementioned ‘Sworn To Obey’ and ‘Reawakening’. But really, all of the album is great and due to the surprisingly large amount of varation, it’s great from start to finish.

For those of you already familiar with Dew-Scented’s high-energy, high-speed and high-quality brand of brutal Thrash Metal, this album can be bought without any hestitation, but anyone who likes their Thrash Metal with the intensity of Death Metal or their Death Metal with the bloodthirsty sense of aggression found in Thrash Metal, Dew-Scented is your band. And ‘Icarus’ may even surpass ‘Impact’ as the album I’d recommend you to check out if you don’t know them yet.

Recommended tracks: ‘Thrown To The Lions’, ‘The Fall Of Man’, ‘Reawakening’, ‘Sworn To Obey’