LADY BEAST – Vicious Breed (Album Review)

Anyone who knows me, indeed who has even read any of my reviews or just follows the Decibel Geek or CGCM Podcast will know that I’m a rabid Lady Beast fan. That certainly creates a biased opinion. I admit that. But isn’t every review biased? It’s all just the writer’s opinion.

Anyway, Lady Beast are set to unleash their latest effort and first full-length since the line up stabilizing addition of guitarist Andy Ramage. Joining in late 2015 Ramage, participated in last year’s incredible EP, Metal Immortal. You can read my Metal Immortal review here. The ax-slinger is quite familiar with the band and even myself, in that he was Greg Colaizzi‘s fill-in bassist during the M-Pre-party (unofficial pre-party for the M3 Festival) in May of 2015, the first time I witnessed Lady Beast in a live setting. Also the elder brother of stalwart Lady Beast skin basher Adam Ramage, Andy is a perfect choice. When it was announced that he was inducted officially into the ranks to wield his ax it only made sense to me. And let me tell you, to the Lady Beast compositions too!

The latest Lady Beast collection, Vicious Breed, is due for issue on November 17, 2017, courtesy of Cruz Del Sur Music. The Beast hooked up with Cruz Del Sur earlier this year joining an army that includes Slough Feg, Pagan Altar, Twisted Tower Dire, and Walpyrgus. The effort is again produced/recorded by Jason Jouver who has worked on the previous Lady Beast outputs Lady Beast 2012, Lady Beast II 2015 and Metal Immortal (EP) 2016. The awesome album cover art is supplied by Karl Dahmer another longtime collaborator of Lady Beast. You can pre-order the album through the links below.

LADY BEAST – Vicious Breed

Vicious Breed starts off with “Seal The Hex”. I already love it by title alone. Wait, what the hell? Is this the right album the record label sent me? The initial minute or so of the track had me wondering. But after just over a minute of soft solo guitar, the familiar Lady Beast sound fades in. With a thrashy NWOBHM aura to it, the riffs are plentiful here. Vocalist Deborah Levine has a deeper, throatier delivery here that works quite well. There are quite a few musical changes throughout “Seal The Hex”, as Lady Beast sway from their more melodic sounds of previous releases.

“The Way” carries on the barrage, but it’s track #3, “Lone Hunter” that’s a complete winner. Thunderous. Fist up immediately. Quickly feeling the neck pain as the head bangs involuntarily. What an awesome, infectious lead-in riff! Love Colaizzi‘s prominent bass drive in “Lone Hunter” as well. My choice cut out the Vicious Breed collection. Next up we are served “Always With Me” featuring another infectious riffy groove similar to that of “Lone Hunter”.

“Get Out” cranks off the face melting in the back half of Vicious Breed‘s eight inclusions. It’s a larger than life pounding neck breaker for its total run of 4:25. Released as a lyric video ahead of the album is “Every Giant Shall Fall”. Five minutes of steadily building instrumental greet the listener in “Sky Graves”. And the title track shuts things down on a high note. Another absolute ripper with the whole band once more firing on all cylinders.

LADY BEAST – Vicious Breed – Meister’s Final Words

Colaizzi‘s bass lines are stamped all over Vicious Breed. The thunder of them is quite prominent in the mix sounding awesome! Drummer Adam Ramage seems to have recovered from an unfortunate illness that prevented him from performing at Legions of Metal Festival earlier this year. He has clearly reclaimed his seat and delivers some pounding beats on Vicious Breed. Glad to see you mended and back in the saddle sir! The twin ax attack of Christopher “Twiz” Tritschler and Ramage has resulted in the most cohesive Lady Beast outputs to date. Exhibiting a deeper registered gravel-throated delivery here, Deborah Levine sounds fantastic.

Guitarist Twiz states matter-of-factly: “I’m probably most proud of the songs on this than I am of other stuff I’ve written.”

“I am very proud of the melodies and lyrical content on this album,” adds Levine. “I have a bit of a formula when I start writing lyrics. The music and feel of the song obviously help the direction I turn, but also I like to have a skeleton of the same idea for each album. The song of an epic story, the hopeful song, the metal ripper, etc. Each is important as it builds the album as a whole. On Vicious Breed, we have our first ballad, on which it will be fun to slow it down and have people hear a different side of us.”

Recently featured in CNN‘s TV show Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain, this could just be the year that the world discovers Lady Beast!

On December 2, 2017, at Beachland Ballroom & Tavern in Cleveland, Ohio Lady Beast is part of a stacked bill. The roster includes Night Demon, Breaker, and Resistance among others. It’s a food drive, so a fantastic cause…and did I mention Lady Beast is performing? Check out the event: Metal Holiday Food Drive Facebook Page. Look for me in the crowd Beasters, for I am about to purchase a flight!