Vicious (Halestorm Album)

''Vicious'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Halestorm. It was released on July 27, 2018 through Atlantic Records. Four singles were released, three of them having a music video. The video for the lead single "Uncomfortable" was directed by Evan Brace.

The album peaked at number 8 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and topped both the US and UK Rock Albums charts.

Background and production

The American rock band Halestorm released their third studio album, ''Into the Wild Life'', on April 10, 2015. This was followed up with 2017's '' Reanimate 3.0: The Covers EP'', produced by Nick Raskulinecz. The band ended up discarding 15 songs, as frontwoman Lzzy Hale became displeased with the material out of fear that she was "paying way too much attention to making everybody happy." The band reunited with Raskulinecz in Nashville, Tennessee's Rock Falcon studio for what began as a series of live jam sessions. By February 2018, Hale announced that the new album was "almost done," and that Halestorm had "about two or three weeks left of recording just to put the cherries on top."

Composition and lyrics

Lzzy Hale commented to Blabbermouth.net:

When discussing the album artwork with Sound Vapors, Joe Hottinger said:

Release and promotion

Halestorm announced the details of their new album, including the name, track list, and release date, on May 30, 2018. The announcement was accompanied by the album's first single, "Uncomfortable", and a music video directed by Evan Brace, who previously directed videos for Phantogram and Taking Back Sunday. On June 22, the band released "Black Vultures." The last pre-album single, "Do Not Disturb," was released on July 20, a week before ''Vicious.'' The song was accompanied by a video directed by Robert Schober, also known as Roboshobo, who previously worked with Metallica, Alice in Chains, Mastodon, Disturbed, and Green Day.

To promote ''Vicious'', Halestorm went on tour with support from In This Moment and New Year's Day, a decision that Lzzy Hale said was made because "It's important to realize that music is gender-less." Hottinger says, "We were told by the third show n the tourthat there were more females buying tickets than males, which in hard rock, we have never seen before."

Reception

Critical reception

''Vicious'' has received a score of 81 on Metacritic based on four reviews indicating "universal acclaim", making it the band's highest scoring album on the site. James Christopher Monger at AllMusic wrote that "The holy hard rock trinity of sex, drugs, and rock & roll is alive and well -- but it connects on such a visceral and familiar level that listeners will likely be unable to resist the urge to turn things up to 11." Stephen Dalton of ''Classic Rock'' wrote, "Sounding at times like a fire-breathing she-dragon, Hale has a flair for lyrically deft rebel-girl songs that wear their feminist credentials lightly." Paul Davies of the ''Daily Express'' wrote, "There are more hooks, delicious vocals and musicianship here to reel in both avid fans and casual listeners.

Commercial performance

''Vicious'' debuted at number eight on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, recording 29,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. As of November 2021, the album has earned 140,000 equivalent album units in the US.

Accolades

''Loudwire'' included ''Vicious'' at number five on their year-end list of the "30 Best Hard Rock Albums of 2018." ''Classic Rock'' also put ''Vicious'' at number five on their list of the "50 Best Albums Of 2018."

"Uncomfortable" was nominated for Best Rock Performance at the 2019 Grammy Awards, losing to Chris Cornell's "When Bad Does Good."

Track listing

All tracks are produced by Nick Raskulinecz.

Notes
* Though listed as being recorded in Philadelphia, the track was actually recorded in Camden, New Jersey.

Personnel

Halestorm

* Lzzy Hale – vocals, guitar, piano, synths, talk box on "Buzz"
* Arejay Hale – drums, backing vocals
* Joe Hottinger – lead guitar, backing vocals, synths
* Josh Smith – bass guitar, piano, backing vocals, synths

Additional credits

* Suzi Akyuz – product manager
* David Brown – guitar technician
* Rock Falcon – drum technician
* Jimmy Fontaine – photography
* Ted Jensen – mastering
* Nik Karpen – mixing assistance
* Alex Kirzhner – creative direction and design
* Jordan Logue – assistance
* Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
* Brian Ranney – packaging manager
* Nick Raskulinecz – producer
* Scott Stevens – additional production
* Nathan Yarborough – engineering

Charts

''Stripped'' EP

Almost two years after the release of the album, the band debuted the ''Vicious (Stripped)'' EP for Record Store day 2020. The album features acoustic versions of four songs from the album as well as an acoustic version of "Chemicals", which was released as a non album promo single the previous year.

References

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2018 albums
Halestorm albums
Glam metal albums