Reviewed - 04/25/05

Fire Falls and the Waiting Waters
[Candlelight Records]

The first thing I read about Vicious Art was that the band boasts two former members of Dark Funeral (Matti Makela and Robert Lundin), so my expectations for this were that it would be another one those CD's that, while being good, I really couldn't care less about. Then again, there was another guy in Vicious Art who had been in Entombed (Jorgun Sandstrom), so I figured there was a small chance that it may indeed be something that I could care about, thus I decided to be more open minded about this review.

Good thing I was more open minded too, as I found myself enjoying the appropriately named Vicious Art. They sound like a badass mixture of old school Swedish death metal and some of the more recent Gothenburg styled bands. I'd say there's more emphasis on the old school here, though, as this album has a nice crunch similar to Entombed's "Clandestine" album.

The vocals make me think of a lower, more guttural version of Dimension Zero's Jocke Gothburg. Ironically enough, Vicious Art's vocalist name is Jocke Widfeldt. I found that somewhat amusing, though I am sure very few other people would find it quite as humorous.

Anyway, fans of Swedish death metal, both new school and old, should find Vicious Art a worthwhile addition to their CD collection.