{"id":105354,"date":"2025-08-29T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T23:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105354"},"modified":"2025-09-11T10:02:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:02:59","slug":"album-review-vicious-rumors-the-devils-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-vicious-rumors-the-devils-asylum\/","title":{"rendered":"VICIOUS RUMORS – The Devil\u2019s Asylum (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

VICIOUS RUMORS
\nThe Devil\u2019s Asylum<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSteamhammer \/ SPV (2025)<\/span>
\nRating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s 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<\/a> and Megadeth<\/a>, and yet festering away awaiting discovery were a whole host of cool bands. California\u2019s Vicious Rumors, alongside the likes of Metal Church, never quite reached the heights of the aforementioned bands, but they did release some fantastic albums.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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\u2019s also been a change in the axe department with Denver Cooper replacing Gunnar D\u00fcgrey. Bassist Robin Utbult, who joined in 2020, completes the current line-up.<\/p>\n

The Devil\u2019s Asylum<\/em> is the band\u2019s 14th studio album, and while the line-up has changed the music hasn\u2019t. It\u2019s still Vicious Rumors doing what they do best, cranking out power metal tinged fury doused in melody, yet fizzing with an electricity of nostalgia.<\/p>\n

The music and feel here is both fluid and energetic, with opening track \u2018Bloodbath\u2019 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

After such a blitz of a start I was a little disappointed that Vicious Rumors don\u2019t really thrash again until the last track, that being the title song. In-between there\u2019s mostly a selection of good, albeit mid-tempo rockers that don\u2019t replicate the grit of the opening song. There\u2019s some huge dollops of nostalgia here though, the pick of the bunch being \u2018Abusement Park\u2019 with its chainsaw riff and sneering vocal, alongside \u2018Boring Day In Hell\u2019 with its cool axe work.<\/p>\n

If you want big melodies then you\u2019ve come to the right place as this opus drips with licks that stay with you for days on end. \u2018Wrong Side Of Love\u2019 sounds like a mix of Lizzy Borden and early M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/a>, \u2018Crack The Sky In Half\u2019 has a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal vibe in its groove and \u2018Butchers Block\u2019 just rocks like it\u2019s 1987.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that Vicious Rumors are trying to transport us back to those halcyon days, they just haven\u2019t exactly moved on. But that\u2019s 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 \u2018Dogs Of War\u2019 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\u2019ve always enjoyed and I think you will too.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VICIOUS RUMORS The Devil\u2019s Asylum Steamhammer \/ SPV (2025) Rating: 7.5\/10 There\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-vicious-rumours"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105354"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105358,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105354\/revisions\/105358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}