Noise Records 1984
When I picked this outta the rack I thought to myself: "Whoa! that Australian hardcore band put out a record on Noise!?! They musta really fucked up!", but calm yourself, cuz this most definitely ain't that band - these guys are German through and through. VICIOUS CIRCLE remind me of TYRAN PACE 'cept a bit less heavy, and a bit less PRIEST-y. The biggest similarity is in the soaring high pitched vocals. If Ralf Scheepers is a dead ringer for Rob Halford, then this dude is a dead ringer for Scheepers. It's a sorta... well... it's a vicious circle isn't it (sigh). The thing that really sold me on this is that it's produced by Horst Müller who did early DESTRUCTION and SODOM records... but please don't expect VICIOUS CIRCLE to sound anything like that.
DOWNLOAD: ViciousCircle-TakeIt.rar (22.5 MB)
VICIOUS CIRCLE • Take It 12"
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Labels: 12", 1984, GERMANY, METAL, RECORD REVIEWS
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7 comments:
This definitely warrants further investigation from me, and maybe I can find more material from them, as I can see what you mean by the Tyran Pace and Priest connections. On a side note, the funny thing about Horst Muller is that all his productions sound clear and robust in every area except guitar presence. I remember on the the first Kreator record and both the Destruction and Sodom EPs how nice the drum kit sounds and full everything was, but how the guitars sounded like they were in the next room. For Thrash, it's a bit emasculating on the riffs. In the case of the first Running Wild album he produced, the sound actually worked because it fit that late-70's biker-metal vibe Judas Priest and contemporaries were pushing a few years earlier and Running Wild was then mixing with the Satanic claptrap before they became pirates. Muller was almost like the Phil Spector of Metal in the sense that everything had this wall of echo (in various amounts depending on the album) and sounded like it was recorded in a large room. In recent memory, Fredrik Nordstrom has a similar technique that he uses in his studio, which gave a lot of early Swedish Melodic Death Metal the very same sound. He also produces his own band - Dream Evil - in the same way, which gives their early-eighties-revival sound that very same edge. Just an observation.. not a judgement. =D
I agree completely re: Müller's drum sounds. On those early releases by SODOM, DESTRUCTION and KREATOR the drums are very punchy and up front... too bad each of those drummers were sloppy as Hell, and the production just made it more apparent. Don't get me wrong, those records are perfect (maybe Sentence Of Death not so much), and Witchunter became one my all-time favourites - his Obsessed By Cruelty performance is unbeatable. In his defense, Müller was able to capture that distinct DESTRUCTION guitar sound on Infernal Overkill perfectly... and in doing so recorded my favourite Metal album of all time!
Ooh.. I so COMPLETELY forgot that one!! The worst part about it is, I have that shirt too.. Wow, I feel stupid. You are absolutely right, and the "Infernal Overkill" record was aptly named, and far from the "vacuum cleaner with drums" of an album that would follow it (Eternal Devastation in this case) I've always wondered, if he wasn't really just an engineer disguised as a producer, because he didn't seem to worry about how those bands were playing, and just dealt with fidelity of the recordings themselves, as you slightly implied by bringing up how sloppy some of the musicianship was. I also agree with you on how they are perfect, flaws and all. Today's metal is perfectly syncopated and digitally recorded with Pro Tools and direct-to-PC equipment that removes the life from many records, but I digress.. (oops)
"Today's metal is perfectly syncopated and digitally recorded with Pro Tools and direct-to-PC equipment that removes the life from many records"
I could not agree more!
if theyre such a "vicious circle",how come their logo is a diamond shape? wouldnt it be like a really badass round shape instead with that name? and what about bands who use another bands name,where all the people in the band have never heard of the band whose name they used? everyone else seems to notice soon enough..is it just stubborness that the band doesnt? i like the name Death,but i cant just use it can i?- no matter how stubborn i insist that my band is the real Death,right?
Whatever you just said there buddy qualifies as circular logic at best: "I can because I'm first, and I'm first because I didn't know I wasn't, and I didn't know I wasn't because I didn't look, and I didn't look because at the time I thought to myself 'I can', and I can because.."
Oh, and case you were wondering, there are at least THREE bands I've seen with this name, so it doesn't really matter. Having the same name as another band only hurts that other band if the other band sharing it's name also tries to steal it's identity, which we all know is more than just a band logo on an album sleeve... it's the music, which is all it's really about... the MUSIC.. Now stop yer complaining, download the damned thing, and have an opinion about the music. *steps off soapbox*
vicious circle members later released 2 albums as GHANDI. maybe you know them.
cheers, olli
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