Soldiers of the Night

Vicious Rumors | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 22, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shrapnel
• ASIN: B002JODUSY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,824 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Premonition

2. Ride (Into The Sun)

3. Medusa

4. Soldiers Of The Night

5. Murder

6. March Or Die

7. Blitz The World

8. Invader (Instrumental)

9. In Fire

10. Domestic Bliss

11. Blistering

Editorial Reviews

Vicious Rumor's remastered debut record, Soldiers Of The Night comes in a limited edition digi-pak cover and marks the first appearance of guitar hero Vinnie Moore, one year before he rendered his highly touted Mind's Eye solo record. Available for the first time on CD, this reissue has been highly anticipated by the fans.

YEAR: 2009

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Heavy Metal!, January 18, 2010

By 

Scott Waters "ultmetal" (New Mexico, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Soldiers of the Night (Audio CD)

Vicious Rumor's "Soldiers of the Night" is considered a heavy metal classic by those who remember the early days of American power metal. The band's debut featured the dual guitar talents of Geoff Thorpe and Vinnie Moore. Geoff would continue to wave the Vicious Rumors flag for decades to come, while Vinnie Moore quickly moved on to a solo career, and later to become the lead guitarist of the legendary UFO. Vocalist Gary St. Pierre was formerly a member of Marty Friedman's band Hawaii before joining Vicous Rumors. Of course St. Pierre would also leave the band before their next album, and was replaced by Carl Albert, the man who is known as the voice of Vicious Rumors. Rounding out the band was bassist Dave Starr and drummer Larry Howe, who along with Thorpe continued on with Vicious Rumors after this release.

The band's sound here is traditional heavy metal, adding in just enough speed and fury to have been thrown into the speed/power metal school of metal (not unlike early Metal Church). Certainly no one would mistake Vicious Rumors for a thrash band, but they did have some elements from the genre as well. Besides the speed of songs like "In Fire", there is also the barked out background vocals that became a trademark for thrash in the 80's. What really helps set this album up above the pack is the incredible guitar duo. Moore and Thorpe just let loose with some tasty licks and tricks. However, while the guitar soloing certainly is a highlight, it's not some much so that it overshadows the songs themselves. There is even a guitar instrumental titled "Invader" which takes a huge influence from Van Halen's "Eruption". Frankly, Soldiers of the Night would probably fall into the same shred category as early Cacophony, Racer X, CJSS and arguably Whitecross. (Of course, Cacophony and Whitecross wouldn't release and album until a year later. Racer X's "Street Lethal" and CJSS "World Gone Made" came out the same year.) Other bands of comparison would be Helstar and possibly Jag Panzer's "Ample Destruction".

"Soldiers of the Night" is classic heavy metal. Any headbanger worth their faded Iron Maiden tour shirt and torn jeans would do well to have this in their collection, especially now that it's been remastered and reissued on CD for the first time since the collectible Price Killer series. Unfortunately the packaging is a cheap digi pack with no booklet, though the original liner notes and cover art are included.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic debut - finally reissued, March 26, 2010

By 

Justin Gaines (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Soldiers of the Night (Audio CD)

As influential as Vicious Rumors was, particularly on the thrash scene, you'd think they would get a bit more recognition. As it stands, it seems like only the true metal faithful give this band the credit they deserve.

1985's Soldiers of the Night was the band's debut album, and while it's pretty far removed from the classic thrashy Vicious Rumors sound (circa Welcome to the Ball), it's still one of my favorite Vicious Rumors albums. It's just drenched in that early 80's American power metal sound that I love, bringing to mind Armored Saint, Omen, Malice, and Warlord. The album is also noteworthy for featuring guitar hotshot Vinnie Moore before he embarked on his solo career. Naturally, with both Moore and Geoff Thorpe on board this is a hard-charging heavy metal album with plenty of guitar theatrics. The vocals - courtesy of Gary St. Pierre - are solid, but don't quite measure up to what Carl Albert (RIP) would do on later albums.

Soldiers of the Night is an important album for both Vicious Rumors and the American heavy metal scene. If you're a serious collector of 80's metal, you'll definitely want to add this to your collection. If you're new to Vicious Rumors, you'll probably want to start with Welcome to the Ball or Vicious Rumors before looping back around to this one.

Edition Notes: In 2009 Shrapnel finally got around to officially reissuing Soldiers of the Night (as well as Digital Dictator) on CD. The new version comes in a cheap-looking digipack, but does feature a pretty impressive digital remastering job. There are no bonus tracks, but honestly just having this classic metal album on CD is bonus enough.

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT METAL DEBUT, October 24, 2009

By 

Joseph A. Vadala - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Soldiers of the Night (Audio CD)

Excellent Metal Debut from West Coast Power Metal Pioneers. Having Vinnie Moore & Geoff Thorpe as a twin-axe sonic assault tandem makes this a must have purchase alone.