____ ______ ____ __ __
/\ _`\ /\ _ \/\ _`\ /\ \/\ \
\ \ \/\ \ \ \L\ \ \ \L\ \ \ \/'/'
\ \ \ \ \ \ __ \ \ , /\ \ , <
\ \ \_\ \ \ \/\ \ \ \\ \\ \ \\`\
\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \_\
\/___/ \/_/\/_/\/_/\/ /\/_/\/_/ D A R K A V E N G E R
______ __ __ _____ __ __ ____ ____ _____
/\ _ \/\ \/\ \/\ __`/\ \/\ \/\ _`\ /\ _`\ /\ _ `\
\ \ \L\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \L\_ \ `\\ \ \ \L\_\ \ \L\_\ \ \L\ \
\ \ __ \ \ \ \ \ \ _\\ \ , ` \ \ \L_L\ \ _\L\ \ , /
\ \ \/\ \ \ \_/ \ \ \/\\ \ \`\ \ \ \/, \ \ \L\ \ \ \ \ \
\ \_\ \_\ `\___/\ \___ \ \_\ \_\ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\
\/_/\/_/`\/__/ \/____/\/_/\/_/\/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/ /
Vicious Rumors - Razorback Killers
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| |
| Release Date.: 2011-03-25 |
| Genre........: Metal |
| Runtime......: 51:13 |
| Source.......: CDDA |
| Label........: SPV Records |
| Cat.Nr.......: N/A |
| Homepage.....: http://www.viciousrumors.com/ |
| |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| .::: Info ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::. |
| |
| 2011 is turning out to be a great year for metal thus |
| far.turn with Razorback Killers and once again show |
| themselves capable of much ass kickery and name takery. I |
| find myself giving out 4.0 and 4.5 left and right and |
| there's lots of new stuff I'm really enjoying. With all |
| due modesty, I caused this to happen by predicting the new |
| Belphegor would be one of my top picks unless we had a |
| truly banner year in metal. Well, you can thank your |
| beloved Steel Druhm for the self-jinx by sending him all |
| the finest ales, meats and cheeses from across the lands. |
| Moving on, we come to another surprisingly good release, |
| this time by long running San Francisco vets Vicious |
| Rumors. These chaps have been knocking around since 1979 |
| and put out some great albums early in their career like |
| their self-titled opus and Welcome to the Ball (their |
| debut even featured mega guitar ace Vinnie Moore). After |
| the tragic death of vocalist Carl Albert in 1995, there |
| was a long dry spell of lackluster and mediocre albums and |
| not until 2006's Warball did they truly get back into |
| vintage fighting shape again. After a lengthy wait, they |
| finally re |
| |
| After losing the talents of super voice James Rivera |
| (Helstar, Destiny's End, Seven Witches) since their |
| Warball release, Vicious Rumors recover nicely by slotting |
| in Brian Allen (Wild Dogs, Last Empire, Malice). Mr. |
| Allen has a wide vocal range, a suitably rough hewn style |
| and he can hit the air raid notes like Tim "Ripper" Owens |
| when needed (Yes AMG, you hate Ripper, its OK). As good as |
| the vocals are here, Razorback Killers is primarily a |
| guitar driven album and the riffs and solos are the real |
| stars. Founder and leader Geoff Thorpe and his battery |
| mate Kiyoshi Morgan slice, dice and shred their way across |
| all ten tracks. At times approximating the twin axe attack |
| of Judas Priest circa Painkiller and at other times |
| sounding more like Firewind or even Exodus and Testament |
| (no, this is NOT another retro-thrash album), they put on |
| quite a show. |
| |
| Lead track "Murderball" (what's up with these guys |
| andinclude the creepy menace throughout "Pearls of |
| Wisdom," the flashy leads and bad ass vox on "All I Want |
| is You" (which sounds like Shok Paris, you probably never |
| heard of them though), and the face ripping attack of |
| "Rite of Devastation." This stuff is all high quality and |
| good fun for the whole family. balls?) is an instant hit |
| and has that classic/traditional metal sound down cold. |
| Thick, crunchy riffs, powerful but melodic vocals, a big |
| memorable chorus and it even features guest solos by Eric |
| Peterson of Testament fame (very cool ones of the |
| foot-up-on-monitor, head-thrown-back variety). This song |
| almost forces you to raise the horns and nod the head. The |
| remainder of Razorback Killers follows along in that heavy |
| traditional metal format and everything is well done and |
| impressive. Allen gets to rage, simmer and boil over on |
| "Black" which has a mid-paced, huge, epic sound and at |
| times reminds me a lot of Black Sabbath's "Children of the |
| Sea." On "Razorback Blade" they dive into Painkilleresque |
| rage with loads of aggression and intense wails and |
| screams by Mr. Allen. Great stuff! Whether trying this |
| type of fast attack or the mid-paced grinders, they get |
| the job done and every song is brimming with guitar |
| heroics and vocal histrionics. Other standouts |
| |
| Though always underrated, when these guys were at their |
| peak of creativity they had it going on. It's great to see |
| them back in action and approaching the level of their |
| classics after so much time in a funk. Kudos to Geoff |
| Thorpe for keeping the band afloat through the lean years. |
| After two consecutive strong releases, I'm hopeful they |
| keep this line-up intact and keep the hits coming. For |
| fans of traditional metal, this is a slick, polished |
| winner and should be examined post haste. Meanwhile, I |
| shall await my well earned meat and cheese baskets from |
| around the globe. |
| |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| .::: Tracks ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::. |
| |
| 01 Murderball 04:08 |
| 02 Black 05:56 |
| 03 Razorback Blade 04:13 |
| 04 Blood Stained Sunday 05:50 |
| 05 Pearl Of Wisdom 06:31 |
| 06 All I Want Is You 04:27 |
| 07 Axe To Grind 03:37 |
| 08 Let The Garden Burn 05:06 |
| 09 Rite Of Devastation 04:22 |
| 10 Deal With The Devil 07:03 |
| |
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