The year 2004 has brought us a bevy of formidable supergroups; immediately, Age of Silence, Bloodbath, and Demonoid come to mind. But Vicious Art – a group featuring Makela (ex-Dark Funeral), Lundin (ex-Dark Funeral), and Sandstrom (Grave, The Project Hate, ex-Entombed) – can easily be added to the list. “Fire Falls and the Waiting Waters” is very good, but lacks an overall sense of innovation.

“Debria Seems to be Bleeding” is a frantic beginning to the album, and the proverbial Swedes intertwine death and thrash quite well. The riff at the 2:10 minute mark is spellbinding. Also of note is the double-bass drumming: yeah, it’s great…fast too. “Komodo Lights” – though cliché – is enjoyable enough to warrant listening. Vicious Art aren’t avant-garde in the originality department, in other words. “Fire Falls” utilizes ascension riffs at first, but urgently settles into a thrash fest. “A Whistler and His Gun” commences with a normal tempo (for Swedish death); you’re going to have to stick some songs out until they reach the breakdown. The latter are predominantly enthralling. “Ceremony (The Waiting Waters)” is no match for the bludgeoning “Mother Dying,” while “The Poet Must Die” is a nice compromise between the two. “Cut This Heathen Free,” “War,” and “Why Would the Captured Set Free the Flies?” is the last of the lifespan of “Fire Falls and the Waiting Waters.”

Vicious Art have talent, no doubt, and their compositions are at least mildly engaging, if not a little brainless. You’ve heard the aforementioned characteristics in other releases before, but the band pull the shtick off convincingly. And, we’re all entitled to a good, guilty pleasure once in a while. What’s funny, though, is that this Swedish supergroup doesn’t contain Tomas Lindberg in any form or fashion.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]