reviewsarchiv 743

Life aint no wishing well show, if you know what I mean by that, not in normal life and not in Rock'n'Roll either.
And the existence of Vicious Rumors has been in many ways a little harder than the life of many other artists of this musical stylistic, who have stayed uptodate within their circles.
We know the generell story of this group anyway from older live reviews. And there can be quite a few one's be found on this page here. They keep returning on a regular base once or twice a year to Europe, and though the audiance is still a rather small one, when they are playing the clubs, the driving engine of the band - Geoff Thorpe stays restless with his search of the one and only true and 100 percent full acceptance within the genre. No other band has changed so often their face and make up, but still their basic structure has never been infected.
Just to repeat myself: Geoff Thorpe has never given in at no time, not at points of death, nor to many other difficulties. He has always believed in what he's doing. And that's what kept him alive 'till this very day.
And presently, where the current release 'Razorback Killers' has receives such a great resonance, the will of this band has even become stronger to get the baby not only walking but also ballet dancing. For that an intense training is needed, not so much for getting even better but more or less to keep their heads up on the surface of the Rock'n'Roll jungle.
Within the past 15 months, this band has visited Munich three times, twice within a clubshow on their own and once supporting Hammerfall. And though the fight for constant presence is a rather tough one, Geoff always goes for the slogan: small things make one big one. And maybe out there the golden nugget still can be found... just never give in.... never!
The Garage club in Munich is inviting once again for a happy go lucky speed thunderstorm, whereby that one goes for old School Metal with a slightly more modern touch, but still with this certain amount of melody, smoothing our ear shells. About 100 guests have found their way here tonight, some of them gettin christened for the very first time by Vicious Rumors, some checking this outfit out for more than three or fourtimes.... or even more, because they know this group is worth while for yet another experience in some ways, including myself :-)

Anyway, ‚Senses May Wither’ from Bavaria have supported Vicious Rumors before. So they are no strangers to us...

And beeing given yet another chance to open for Vicious Rumors, then there is no reason to say no.
After his band has released one album named 'Polaris Breach' in the past, a new EP 'Rivals' came out recently in March. And 'till the end of the year, the second longplayer is planned for a release. Stilistically this band does not neccessarely follow the same path as the other two bands tonight, but they are doing their best to get some attention, though at this early time, only a few visitors have gathered yet in front of the stage. Who cares - playing is everything, and that's what they've done just now with a lot of enthusiasm, despite the modest circumstances.
End of story.
http://www.sensesmaywither.de/

Also Steel Engraved are no unknown in this business anymore and have played Munich's venue's quite a few times in the past, and of course the rest of Germany.

They are musically also situated on the same line as the headliner here with this bombastic tenor. Meanwhile our living room has filled pretty well, and obviously there are not only Vicious Rumors fans here, but also a few admirers of Steel Engraved. These boys do show a healthy selfconfidence, coming from a certain routine. ' On High Wings We Fly' is the title of their new and second CD, which by the way, is produced by VR boss Geoff Thorpe. And what the album title says seems to be program, trying to fly free . And that's what they do for the past six years - tightening their reputation. However, Steel Engraved lead by singer Marco Schober leave a decent and solid impression including all heavy metal clichee's you can think of, including a very hairy visuallity.

But actually it ain't nothing new, at least for the past three or so years. Before that, there has always been a certain insecurity, thanks to many line up changes with only one constant unit - Geoff Thorpe himself. Such things of course inflect a band and their music and last but not least a live performance. But winning Little Caruso - Brian Allen had been the best thing happende since Carl Albert. And with him the reputation and quality of this band has risen up again a lot more than ever before. In any case, - Geoff has to watch out and hold on tight to this paradise bird and mustn'd let him fly away again. Because with him this second spring of the San Francisco Bay Area band stands and falls...
To get it really straight, we mustn'd forget to mention one newbe since last time, who is guitarist Bob Capka, who tonight plays his second show with this band - believe it or not. No clue what had happened to the guy, who used to be in the group before him. But it doesn't really matter at that point, as the whole dominance lies in the vocals here, the powerful drum works and of course Geoff Thorpe himself. Mind you, the new guy does really great for performing his second stint so far here.

And to our all pleasure this band is growing beyond themselves during this show from 180 to at least 360. They are not only fullfilling a job, which has to be done, but celebrating a great Rock'n'Roll party, one - the band ejoys as much as their audiance. And so the result is, that they throw in spontaniously some more songs than planned. That's exactly how it should be, including another stint of Steel Engraved's singer joining Vicious Rumors on stage for a duet on 'Let The Garden Burn'. - Apart from that, there is one song, which is never missing within a show of this band, and this is of course ' Don't Wait For Me'. Without that tune, a Vicious Rumors gig would'nd be Vicious Rumors show, including a healthy stage dive of Brian Allen, without any risk for injuring.