VICIOUS ART

With members of DARK FUNERAL, ENTOMBED and GUIDANCE OF SIN aboard, it'd be easy to look warily upon VICIOUS ART as yet another self-indulgent side project. Fear not, these are all ex-members, and while the point of the band seems to be mainly to have a good time, get drunk and play metal, these guys know what they're doing. While "Fire Falls and the Waiting Waters" is hardly essential listening, it's an energetic outing from a Swedish thrash band that actually remembers to thrash.

Look no further than their friends in DEFLESHED (at whose CD release party VICIOUS ART/ex-GRAVE, ENTOMBED bassist Jörgen Sandstrom was the DJ) for the modus operandi behind this band. VICIOUS ART are all about the head-down, keep-it-simple thrash. The sheer energy of the first couple tracks is infectious, and keeps VICIOUS ART's congenital defect from being obvious right at first — this is some really generic shit. If you're so far into the Swedethrash scene that you can tell the difference between any two CARNAL FORGE albums, you might find more to love here than the rest of the world — but to most, this will seem fairly typical and uninspired.

There are plenty of blasts, harsh vocals, lots of double-kick drumming and the standard-issue "thrash polka" tempo, plus the occasional catchy guitar hook (see: beginning of "Mother Dying"). And the lyrics, based on the titles and the occasional phrase I can make out, sound a cut above the usual ironic hack-and-slash pissed-off-edness that passes for something to sing about these days (if only I'd been supplied a booklet or lyric sheet, to let you know for sure). "Fire Falls and the Waiting Waters" is just one of those ultimately bland records you throw on, this "this isn't bad," then put back on the shelf and never listen to again — it sounds like it was a hill of fun to record, but there's nothing about it that makes it stand out from the crowd.