US Bay Area power metal giants Vicious Rumors are set to unleash their tour de force eleventh studio album, Electric Punishment, containing nine brand new songs and one KISS cover version, on SPV / Steamhammer on April 29th. Electric Punishment, while once again ruled by what main man Geoff Thorpe refers to as impressive double bass thunder, double guitar attacks and haunting vocals the way you only get with this band, is clearly a more multi-faceted and diverse offering than 2011s acclaimed Razorback Killers opus. While Razorback Killers was heavy all the way through from start to finish, the new material is more in the vein of Word Of Mouth notes Thorpe.
Geoff describes the two opening songs, I Am The Gun and Black X List as uncompromising classic power metal tracks which would have fitted on every one of our albums continuing, But theres also an unusually atmospheric song called Eternally, an anthem to our audience entitled Together We Unite and a deeply black ballad named Escape (From Hell). Im sure that our fans will be just as surprised of the whole album as they will be of the final KISS cover Strange Ways.
Work on Electric Punishment began when Vicious Rumors returned from a long, strenuous and immensely successful world tour in Autumn 2011. 2011 was a monster year for Vicious Rumors in the most positive sense of the word, says Thorpe, looking back at that time with surprise and some satisfaction. We were on the road non-stop for more or less eight months, played countless club shows and performed at some of the most important festivals worldwide. The last show of the tour took place as part of the 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise what a finale!
Electric Punishment, which proves how much of a force to be reckoned with this band continues to be, was put down by Thorpe, vocalist Brian Allen, bassist Stephen Goodwin, drummer Larry Howe and guitarist Thean Rasmussen, who returned to the Vicious Rumors fold after Razorback Killers. The group also invited a number of former allies to the studio as guest musicians: Nightranger guitarist Brad Gillis features on D-Block, Together We Unite and Eternally, Marc McGhee on Escape (From Hell), and last but not least tour guitarist Bob Capka helped out with some rhythm guitar work and a haunting solo on D-Block.
We have permanently grown, there have been no two identical albums in our career because each album has a new, fresh approach, comments Thorpe, not without pride. Still weve never strayed from our course perhaps precisely for this reason. Weve remained faithful to our ideals and have always been honest with our fans. Everything we do comes from the heart, and Electric Punishment documents that no other band on this planet sounds like Vicious Rumors. To us, thats an incentive, a challenge and a quality feature all in one.
All Plugged In – Roland Hyams roland@workhardpr.com / 020 8677 8466 / 07768 156392
www.viciousrumors.com / www.spv.de
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