Vicious Rumors

Also, totally forgot about BRAINSTORM doing "Don't Wait For Me" as bonus track Soul Temptation album. Funny enough i know how much everyone on here loves Andy's vocals, but after listening to the BS version again it makes me love Carl Albert that much more. Andy cannot touch him with a 50 ft. pole.

100% correct. I LOVE the Soul Temptation album but that bonus track sucks IMO. I remember when I bought the Japan version and was excited to see they covered the song. I listened and was like WTF is this?
 
VICIOUS RUMORS are one of the best US metal bands ever. Carl Albert, had he not been killed, would be at the top of most people's lists of greatest vocalist of all time. Since he was taken so early he never got his due as being mentioned here as a band heard about but never checked out.

Digital Dictator, Vicious Rumors, Welcome To The Ball are 3 long lost classics of the power thrash genre and ALL are worth any money spent.


Agreed x1000!!
 
One of my favorites as well, I hope they are able to play ProgPower at some point (they would fit the Showcase especially well), although I'm not sure about the current lineup. I'll echo the above sentiments and recommend DIGITAL DICTATOR, VICIOUS RUMORS, WELCOME TO THE BALL and WARBALL as essentials, although all their albums are worth a listen...
 
I'm not knocking you dude. It's better to discover a band like this late than not at all.

And I hope you're not writing off Saigon Kick or especially Warrior Soul. Those are/were great bands.

No problem...I thought that's how you meant it. I've been a Saigon Kick fan since The Lizard, but for some reason never really have gotten into Warrior Soul.

and if the track Children isn't one of the best ballads by a thrash band i don't know what could be better.

I agree, it's a great song!

The following are essensial:
Soldiers of The Night, 1986 (Vocals: Gary St. Pierre)
Digital Dictator, 1988 (Vocals: Carl Albert)

I was able to walk into the Disc Exchange in Knoxville today and buy new copies of Soldiers and Digital Dictator. I haven't had the chance to spin them yet though.

I also read somewhere last night that the band apparently toured with Savatage during the Edge of Thorns tour, since they were label mates! Plus, VR dedicated a song to Criss Oliva on one their albums after he passed. Much respect to the band from me for simply doing that!

~Brian~
 
VICIOUS RUMORS are one of the best US metal bands ever. Carl Albert, had he not been killed, would be at the top of most people's lists of greatest vocalist of all time. Since he was taken so early he never got his due as being mentioned here as a band heard about but never checked out.

Digital Dictator, Vicious Rumors, Welcome To The Ball are 3 long lost classics of the power thrash genre and ALL are worth any money spent.

HUGE fan of the band. Carl Albert the singer during this era (RIP) was listed in my top 10 fav singers thread. Vinnie Moore was also in the band during the earlier days (Shrapnel Records). Get the self titled album. You will drool.

All of these! Carl was one of greatest metal vocalists of all time period.
 
One of my all time favorites. Get the Shrapnel releases, the Atlantic releases and Word of Mouth. Once Carl died, the band should have changed the name or broke up. NOT Vicious Rumors without Carl. :worship: R.I.P.
 
While I agree that the band has not been quite the same without Carl, VR still has released some quality stuff with other singers (Cyberchrist, Sadistic Symphony, Warball). Besides, much like the fact that Tony Iommi=Black Sabbath, Geoff Thorpe=Vicious Rumors....he IS Vicious Rumors.
 
I also read somewhere last night that the band apparently toured with Savatage during the Edge of Thorns tour, since they were label mates! Plus, VR dedicated a song to Criss Oliva on one their albums after he passed. Much respect to the band from me for simply doing that!

~Brian~

The song is "Thunder and Rain pt. 2" and the irony is that a few months later, Carl Albert was also killed in a car accident. :(
 
First 3 w/ Carl are absolutely essential for sure, WoM and Warball are well worth buying, and the rest are at least worth checking out (depending on the appeal of the singer).
 
When you compare each Vicious Rumors disc side by side, you see a noticeable dropoff in songwriting after "The Voice" died.
The 1st 2 discs led up to the Atlantic years. "ST" and "Welcome to the Ball" are both slabs of crushing power metal, and "Word of Mouth" follows in the same vein.
After Carl died, the band became sort of a joke. The disc with Thorpe singing was a travesty. "Cyberchrist" had a few moments, but overall was weak. "Sadistic Symphony" was another dropoff from the Carl era. When Rivera came into the fold, I was excited at the possibilities. "Warball" was much better than recent output, but still did not compare to the classic lineup. At that point Vicious Rumors reached the "Queensryche level of consistency"; they were no longer a blind buy in the hopes that things would change, they became a "no buy".
Its never going to be the same again.