Band:	Vicious Rumors
Album:	Vicious Rumors
Style:	US power metal
Release date:	1990

01. Don't Wait For Me
02. World Church
03. On The Edge
04. Ship Of Fools
05. Can You Hear It
06. Down To The Temple
07. Hellraiser
08. Electric Twilight
09. Thrill Of The Hunt
10. Axe And Smash

Vicious Rumors toned their act down a great deal for their self-titled follow up to "Digital Dictator". The compositional approach remained similar, however, and consequently "Vicious Rumors" sounds like a light version of it's predecessor. Of course this poses the question whether "Digital Dictator" minus visceral force would be any good but, surprisingly, "Vicious Rumors" is quite accomplished.

Fans of Carl Albert will have much to love here. His vocals are pushed further into the foreground, as is typical of this kind of music, and he rises up to the task. Albert is capable of creating a variety of different moods and his delivery is incredibly versatile, ranging from a tuneful, low growl to a high-pitched scream, and his vocal lines never fail to provide a hook when the riffs fail to have one. This happens very often as at times the guitars seem to focus more on harmonizing the vocals than playing distinct melodies, which makes the vocals all the more effective.

That being said, the album's best track strangely does not even feature Albert's vocals (or those of anyone else). "Electric Twilight" is an instrumental written and arranged by the other half of Vicious Rumors' guitar tandem, Mark McGee. Clocking in at barely two minutes, it is hardly a metal song but more of a dense and beautiful composition for a clean electric guitar.

The other end of the album's sonic spectrum is the hard-hitting opener "Don't Wait For Me", a song that compares favourably to anything on the previous two albums, and "Thrill Of The Hunt". More catchy and arguably better in the album's context are "Axe And Smash" and "Ship Of Fools". With one of the two as lead single (instead of the heavy opener) the public may have caught on and the band might have gotten their deserved due. It was not to be but even despite lack of commercial success, "Vicious Rumors" remains one of the better commercial metal albums.