I (in my infinite laziness, couldn't bear to spin vinyl even to listen to and review D.D.!!) have been listening extensively to my new CD copy of Digital Dictator. What a rush it STILL is! This first effort with M. McGee and Carl Albert, RIP, is still far superior to most new music coming out now from other 'Heavy Metal' bands. At the most basic level, the chord progressions used in the songs are neat.. More specifically, VR have gone way beyond 1 - 4 - 5, pentatonic scale music here! Using weird freaky triads/chords/intervals of the (forgive me but my theory is rusty!) diminished 7th variety (and other such tricky ingredients), they have arranged compelling and headbangin' songs, which all have musical 'hooks' without being boring and simplistic or without losing the listener in the throes of some off-timed signature. 

The lyrical content is well thought out.. far beyond "Do me til we're raw!" or "Die, die, die!!", these songs say something meaningful if you want to listen to the words. The cutting combo of Thorpe/McGee is non-pareil in metal, and Carl Albert can sing with melody and emotion (including aggression), better than anyone in the market,... EVER!! I defy anyone to show me a song that is a better overall example of what the phrase HEAVY METAL means than does LADY TOOK A CHANCE. That song absolutely KILLS!!! And the rest rocks as well (All 10 tracks shred and deserve mention, but that'd be too wordy). This is the album that made me sit back and realize that Vicious Rumors would be my favorite heavy band for years to come! BUY IT AT ALL COSTS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!!!!! 

This release, I believe, marked a little growth on the part of the band. With the contract with Atlantic Records, and the help of a new talent, Michael Rosen, adding his touch to the sound, VR seemed to take a stab at the main stream of the heavy metal genre. Their signature shred was still there, but it might have been considered less threatening to those unaccustomed to headbanging. Don't Wait for Me, the opening track, kept pace with the motivated, aggressive style of Digital Dictator, but there are the tracks World Church (shredding, while proposing world peace), and Can You Hear It (from what I know, the first totally heavy love song), offering more visibly the fact that Vicious Rumors were not out there to flip the finger at more socially acceptable issues. After we D.D. fanatics had a chance to listen to the full release a couple of times, it is a very natural progression in the history of the band, and a great album to boot. 

From: Richard K. Ota [Richard.K.Ota@williams.edu] 

Vicious Rumors' 1990 ATLANTIC debut is in my opinion one of the BEST Heavy Metal albums of all time. Carl Albert's electric vocals combined with the guitar playing skills of Mark McGee and Geoff Thorpe make VR a leading band in their domain! 

The step after their self-titled release was another in the right direction. Starting off with Abandoned, which took at least three notes for me to accept as the best song they'd done since Lady Took a Chance. Savior from Anger,... what can you say about a group that can shred while speaking of such things as, "Contagion! All hatred must be eliminated!" and "Savior! Save us from anger!" What more need be said. Add in something a bit macabre, like Strange Behavior and Six Stepsisters, and the accompanying riffing, and you've got quite a concoction. Michael Rosen and Geoff again team up to keep the sonic punch at just the right sharpness. 

"If I have to run to the ends of the Earth, I'll be damned if..." I'll pass up the opportunity to buy more masterful music from these guys!! 

Gee!! I guess I have another good reason to listen to my old VR albums (like I really need one!!). I just received my copy of Word of Mouth the week after I got Something Burning. I really, REALLY like Word..!! (All Rights Reserved!!, etc. the whole thing SHREDS!!!!!) It is by far the best release since Digital Dictator, and may be even better! Of course, they're all among the best non-classifiable metal releases by anyone since the genre came into being. I'm not sure I like Something Burnin' quite as much with the new Pantera-esque style, but I have listened to it repeatedly and cannot say that it doesn't make me bang my head!! The album I know least is Soldiers, so I'll really have to listen to that one, but I'll need only a refresher on D. D.. 

I waited for a good moment before writing this review. Something Burning is pretty different that whatever you might have heard from Vicious Rumors since the beginning. Heavier in a sense, although WOM was already pretty heavy, but the sound is more raw, crunchier, the riffs have more edge and the rythm is reminiscent of some older VR material (DD and VR). The overall feeling is very VR-ish, an excellent performance and legacy to Carl Albert! 

Rating: 9 out of 10

VICIOUS RUMORS return with new singer Brian O'Conner who seems to have helped that the band turned to its traditional roots again,  delivering one of THE Metal-releases of 1998 to us : "Cyberchrist"...(more)