Album Review: Vicious Rumors - Celebration Decay
Reviewed by Carl Black
It’s written in scripture that if you’re too metal, and not exactly thrash, but you’re too thrashy and not metal enough, chances are you’re going to be Power Metal. When one of the inventing fathers of the genre, Vicious Rumors, release a 13th album called 'Celebration Decay' it’s fascinating to know what, in 2020, a Power Metal band has to offer in what is, let’s be honest, not the coolest or fashionable of metal styles. The answer to my question is… a fair amount.
Of course you get the blend of metal and thrash, it’s in the band DNA. Songs like album opener, and title track, 'Celebration Decay', 'Cold Blooded' and 'Collision Course Disaster' will get the most static of pits circling like it’s a Bay Area 80’s revival. You can’t have one without the other, the metal is evident on songs like 'Arrival of Desolation' and 'Death Eternal'. Both have such galloping riffs that you’d be fooled into thinking you’re at the Grand National.
But don’t write off these Bay Area veterans just yet. Main stayers Geoff Thorpe and Larry Howe have been joined by a young virtuoso guitarist in Gunner Dügrey and new vocalist Nick Courtney. They have pushed the constrictive restraints of this type of music and have dished up a couple of curve balls. A quiet/loud song that could give some commercial success in 'Darkness Divine' and grunge inspired riffs that would have Jerry Cantrell crying like a baby in 'Long Way Home'. But it’s the new vocalist that steals the show. Nick Courtney changes vocal style, sometimes two, or three times during a song. A real catch and perfect for the band. Plus, with ex-Testament bassist Greg Christian, your good to go.
A fine, mature and brilliant collection of songs that push outwards of the power metal constraints, but sits happily within them. Some may say safe. Some may say old hat. I say powerful, Power Metal.
