Review | Vicious Rumors – The Devil’s Asylum

Steamhammer

Since their milestone album ‘Digital Dictator’ (1988) Vicious Rumors has had its ups and downs and have released mediocre, good, and outstanding albums indeed. ‘The Devil’s Asylum’ is Geoff Thorpe’s band 14^th studio album and after the first spin I can say that musically NOTHING has changed within Vicious Rumors.

GEOFF THORPE

So, ‘The Devil’s Asylum’ is again a good heavy metal album, but also a rather predictable one, but if you love this band then it is again a must have album for sure. Vicious Rumors, read Geoff Thorpe, still delivers the heavy metal relentless razor-sharp sound that defined this band for almost forty years. So from the opener ,,Bloodbath” till the closing title track it is headbanging time galore.

The new singer Chalice does a more than excellent job and most of the songs are really heavy metal killers which will catch you by the balls right from the start. ,,Crack The Sky In Half’’ even reminds me of Judas Priest, while ,,High Hell Hammer” is a catchy hard-hitting song loaded with killer riffs.

MEGADETH

,,Abusement Park” opens with a Megadeth riff, and this song is one of my personal favs of this album; very melodic, energetic and 100% rhythmic. ,,In Blood We Trust,” another favourite, is a fast and aggressive typical Vicious Rumors track, with the band really playing very tight, featuring killer riffs, hooks and soaring solos galore.

VICIOUS RUMORS – THE CONCLUSION

‘The Devil’s Asylum’ ends with the title track and that is also one of the highlights of this album as it is a true memorable composition, which will turn out to be a live staple for the band for sure.

So, if you liked the previous album of Vicious Rumors, like I did, then you will also love this new album, packed with an extraordinarily strong, powerful, and straight forward sound. Vicious Rumors plays US heavy metal as it should be played, so play it LOUD and enjoy.

 Listening tip: ,,Bloodbath”.

Release date: 29 August 2025