Review by Daniel for Vicious Circle (AUS) - The Price of Progress (1985)
During my recent investigation into the earliest roots of the Australian extreme metal scene, I discovered that Melbourne hardcore punk outfit Vicious Circle are often referred to as a crossover thrash act which is interesting because I picked up some of their albums (including this one) through the older skater kids at my high school when I was a youngster but don't recall thinking that their earlier works were particularly thrashy. Over the past week I've digested Vicious Circle's two 1984 demo tapes "Circle of the Doomed" & "Foolish Ideas", their 1985 live cassette "Live at the Prince of Wales", their 1985 "Search for the Solution!!" single as well as their two split releases with Perdition & Youth Brigade but I don't think I've encountered a genuine thrash tune as yet. That brings me to the band's 1985 debut full-length "The Price of Progress" which I received along with a whole bunch of hardcore-oriented material from bands like Massappeal, Condemned? & Depression back in the very early 1990's. This time though, I'll be listened with some more educated ears & will be paying specific attention to the inclusion of metal components in Vicious Circle's sound to see if these Victorians have any right to be included in the early Aussie thrash discussion.
"The Price of Progress" takes the exact same musical approach as Vicious Circle's demo material to be honest & you won't find any metal on offer here. Instead, you can expect to receive a fairly stock-standard version of hardcore punk but one that's been very well written & executed. I've encountered almost all of the fifteen songs included on the other releases I mentioned above but this time they've been delivered with a greatly improved production job that better highlights Vicious Circle's natural energy. The tempos are generally kept high with the high-octane delivery making for a great record to thrash around your bedroom to. Vocalist Paul Lindsay does an excellent job at spitting out his socially & politically fueled lyrics & is the focal point of Vicious Circle's sound while the instrumentation does tend to be fairly formulaic in structure with a lot of fast down-picking & palm-muting going on in classic punk style.
Most of this material is very enjoyable, even though I wouldn't say that I'm a hardcore afficionado by any stretch of the imagination. I just know good song-writing when I hear it & there's plenty of that on offer here. There are a few flatter tunes amongst the fifteen on offer though with "Scream", "Distorted Truth" & particularly the noticeably weak "Sleep Talk" failing to connect with me. The more appealing songs tend to be the more hectic & violent ones in my opinion which is perhaps not all that surprising given my taste profile. The versions of "Public Minister" & Bloodrace" that are included are much better than the ones that first appeared on 1984's "Circle of the Doomed" demo & sit amongst of the highlights of the album along with the excellent "Factors". The rest of the material is all more than acceptable, even though I wouldn't suggest that much of it is particularly essential as it's simply replicating a tried & tested model of punk music.
If you're a big hardcore fan then you can do a lot worse than to explore "The Price of Progress" as it's a more than decent punk record that I'd take over many of the more recognised international hardcore records of the time (Black Flag's "My War", Suicidal Tendencies' "Join the Army", English Dogs' "Invasion of the Porky Men", DYS' self-titled album, Ugly Americans' "Who's Been Sleeping… In My Bed", etc). It's not, however, one that should be commanding a position on the Metal Academy database & it'll be interesting to see how Vicious Circle's sound develops over the next couple of releases because I can't see why the band have been linked to crossover thrash on the evidence of their debut album. Perhaps Depression were leading the way in the Aussie hardcore scene but Vicious Circle were certainly following closely behind & looking over their shoulder at bands like Condemned? & Gash.
For fans of Black Flag, Condemned? & early Depression.