Release date: Aug. 29, 2025

Legendary US Power Metal band, Vicious Rumors are back and stronger than ever; With 45 years of the band’s career run, each era of the band has delivered notable and respectable albums such as: “Soliders of the Night” (1985), “Digital Dictator” (1986), and self titled “Vicious Rumors” (1990) to name a couple. The band has gone through numerous line up changes all throughout the decades, therefore the current line up consists of band founder Geoff Thrope, along side original member Larry Howe on drums and vocals, bassist Robin Utbult, vocalist Chalice, and guitarist Denver Cooper. With this new and strong lineup, Vicious Rumors is proud to announce a new full length album: “The Devil’s Asylum”!

Review

The album opener, “Bloodbath” was previously released as a single back in May of this year (2025). It is instantly energetic, the track itself is a perfect opener for the album all together as it immediately sets the overall tone and intensity of “The Devil’s Asylum”. Chalice’s amazing vocals were a focal point in my opinion, with rawness and power that perfectly meshes with the band’s sound. The track is speedy, heavy and overall it definitely has the old school sound from the early days of the band with more modern characteristics to it as well. I strongly encourage that you give it a listen, use it as a sneak peek of what the album has to offer!

The second track, “Dogs of War” (was recently released as a single as well) is a Heavy track, the riffs and overall guitar harmonies are really good, electrifying enough to charge up the whole track in itself. It is a track with themes of war, the lyrical aspect fits in well with the musical aspect as well. Once again, Chalice’s vocals also do a phenomenal job with interpreting and giving character to the lyrics and the meaning of the song; with straightforwardness, raw and strong attitude.

“Crack the Sky In Half” (also recently released as a single) starts off with a groovy intro, but just as it is groovy, it also has a nice tempo to it. It is a bit more mellow yet upbeat than for example, “Bloodbath”. That does not mean it is not as heavy though! It still very nicely keeps up with the heavy undertones, especially with the rawness of the guitar solos and riffs towards the middle of the song. Overall a real nice track if you are in the mood for something a little more upbeat but of course, heavy as well!

“High Hell Hammer” comes charging in, already with a strong tone and tough attitude that reminds me of the previous track, “Dogs of War”. I personally dig this one because I can tell by hearing the song that it does in fact have those old school elements that remind me a track you would hear in the earlier albums from back in the day, but it is executed in a modern way of course. It is an interesting blend, and I thoroughly enjoyed this number!

“Butcher’s Block” instantly caught my attention with the mood and atmosphere that I was straight away faced with. It has that chunky, heavy, and almost evil sound. With the title alone, you can tell it is going to be one mean track (in an awesome way of course). I also really dig this one because of the theme that is presented in this song, the chaos and desperate sounds of the guitars and hectic drumming all give you the perfect image of what the “Butcher’s Block” is.

“Abusement Park” is such a real fun and awesome track from the get go. It mixes speed, heavy and even has groove undertones from what I picked up in certain points. The song is like a very, “Vicious Rumors”- esque song for sure. Like mentioned before, it does an amazing job with keeping the old school and modern sound at the same time all through the track. Personally, this one of my favorite tracks on the album so far!

“Wrong Side of Love” is also a neat track on the album. Truthfully, the title made me think it would be a slow ballad in a way, but I was wrong! It still continues with the aggressive and rough attitude and overall pure heavy metal sound just as it has been heard all throughout the album. I also personally dug this song, “She’s a stone cold killer, on the rise to fame” is so catchy. The song implies that it is talking about a woman who is on a path to chaos, it is just an awesome track overall.

“Boring Day in Hell” begins with an interesting twist with the guitar work, I thought it was cool how it made me feel like I was in some sort of daze. Which is kind of ironic since the title reflects what boredom is, it makes you feel like in a daze and in limbo at times. It is creative how the musicianship reflected that back, the guitar riffs also do a fantastic job at adding to the song’s vibe. But, the song is still upbeat, heavy, and with bad ass shredding and guitar soloing!

“In Blood We Trust” fires away with hard hitting drums, powerful and supercharged guitar riffs, along with dominating vocals. Truthfully, this was another of my personal favorites on this album. It reminds me of that old school USPM sound, the mix of speed and heaviness is absolutely great. It gets you super charged up, and it is just a truly badass track all around. I highly recommend this one!

The second to last track on the album,“Better Than Me” strikes in with already heavy as hell guitar tones, it is rich and round sounding at the same time. The guitar harmonies, riffs, solos, were absolutely a focus point through the whole track. At times it is almost as if the guitars are also singing/ vocalizing along with Chalice’s vocals. I would definitely re-listen to this one over and over, also recommended!

“The Devil’s Asylum” is the album’s concluding track, and it definitely has a strong kick to it! It is just as potent and mighty as for example the opening track. It is also packed with exciting guitar riffs and once again, the solos just do not disappoint at all. The overall perfect chaos and frantic timbre presented in the whole song is pure unfiltered heavy metal at its best. It is no question that this track was a perfect way to close the album with one last strong and intense hurrah.

Conclusion

Vicious Rumors have always been Legends that brought insanely amazing albums and tracks all through the past 45 years of the band’s run. “The Devil’s Asylum” is an album that old fans and new fans alike will enjoy listening to this new album, for certain. And as stated before, “The Devil’s Asylum” overall does an amazing and phenomenal job with still holding up to the old school sound and attitude while also modernizing it with a twist. It truly is unadulterated USPM all together, heavy, speedy, fun, and electrifying. And since it has been 5 years since their last full album release, this new album is without a doubt a sign to the masses that Vicious Rumors is back and still kicking ass.

TheNwothm Score: 8.5/10

Links

Bandcamp:https://viciousrumors.bandcamp.com/album/the-devils-asylum

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ViciousRumorsThisIsMetal/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/viciousrumorsband/?hl=en

Label: Steamhammer Records