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VICIOUS RUMORS
The Devil’s Asylum

Steamhammer / SPV (2025)
Rating: 7.5/10

There’s no doubt in my mind that the best decade for heavy metal was the 80s. Many young kids like me were getting into the more popular bands of the era like Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth, and yet festering away awaiting discovery were a whole host of cool bands. California’s Vicious Rumors, alongside the likes of Metal Church, never quite reached the heights of the aforementioned bands, but they did release some fantastic albums.

It’s great that Vicious Rumors are still going strong in spite of the fact that only two longstanding members remain in Geoff Thorpe (guitar) and Larry Howe (drums). The band formation has been somewhat of a revolving door of musicians and continues with the recruitment of vocalist Chalice (aka Brian Betterton). There’s also been a change in the axe department with Denver Cooper replacing Gunnar Dügrey. Bassist Robin Utbult, who joined in 2020, completes the current line-up.

The Devil’s Asylum is the band’s 14th studio album, and while the line-up has changed the music hasn’t. It’s still Vicious Rumors doing what they do best, cranking out power metal tinged fury doused in melody, yet fizzing with an electricity of nostalgia.

The music and feel here is both fluid and energetic, with opening track ‘Bloodbath’ going straight for the throat and toughened by the sneering vocal presence of Chalice. This is top tier thrash, driven by the scorching riffs and aided further by the excellent production. There’s a definite Judas Priest vibe here, Chalice showing an incredible versatility with those higher shrieks as the band thrashes with a fiery menace. The chorus is pure European power metal, soaring from the smoulder to a clear blue sky of hope.

After such a blitz of a start I was a little disappointed that Vicious Rumors don’t really thrash again until the last track, that being the title song. In-between there’s mostly a selection of good, albeit mid-tempo rockers that don’t replicate the grit of the opening song. There’s some huge dollops of nostalgia here though, the pick of the bunch being ‘Abusement Park’ with its chainsaw riff and sneering vocal, alongside ‘Boring Day In Hell’ with its cool axe work.

If you want big melodies then you’ve come to the right place as this opus drips with licks that stay with you for days on end. ‘Wrong Side Of Love’ sounds like a mix of Lizzy Borden and early Mötley Crüe, ‘Crack The Sky In Half’ has a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal vibe in its groove and ‘Butchers Block’ just rocks like it’s 1987.

It’s not that Vicious Rumors are trying to transport us back to those halcyon days, they just haven’t exactly moved on. But that’s not a criticism; it simply shows how the band has stuck to their guns through numerous fads and trends. When you hear a song like ‘Dogs Of War’ you appreciate how these metal masters are still so adept at fusing an almost sleazy metal swagger with a more boisterous and muscular clarity. Okay, so I was expecting a few faster numbers, but this is still the Vicious Rumors I’ve always enjoyed and I think you will too.

Neil Arnold

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