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"Lynyrd Skynyrd is truly a band capable of sublimating the blows of fate, for this aptly named 'Vicious Cycle' is no less than the benchmark album of the second half of his career."
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4/5
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Lynyrd Skynyrd is used to tragedies, ever since the sad accident that decimated the band in 1977. And yet, the Southern legend has always bounced back in the end. When Leon Wilkinson died at the start of the recording sessions for their new album, the band members once again managed to overcome their grief and resumed the sessions with a new rhythm section made up of Ean Evans on bass and the famous Michael Cartellone (Damn Yankees, Accept) on drums.
If the first guitar chords of 'That's How I Like It' take us back in time, it's to get a better feel for the roots of the southern combo. Across its 14 tracks (we'll deliberately leave out the pointless bonus cover of the classic 'Gimme Back My Bullets', marred by Kid Rock's pointless screams), "Vicious Cycle" is a compendium of the pride of the great American South. If melancholy is the dominant feeling, Lynyrd Skynyrd combines it in varied and always successful ways, alternating powerful tracks with more delicate ones, without ever falling into the cheesy. At the end of the semi-acoustic ballad 'Lucky Man', which concludes this marvellous journey full of emotions, we are left with a furious desire to relaunch the album.
This album is balanced, dynamic and coherent. Catchy tracks ('Jake') alternate with power ballads ('Crawl') and festive rock'n'roll reinforced by a brass section ('Sweet Mama'), without ever sounding redundant. The peaks are surely reached on the sequence 'The Way' / 'Red, White And Blue'. The first, a convoluted epic track, will grab you by the throat, while the second will bring a few tears to your eyes, proving just how important Billy Powell's keyboard lines are to Lynyrd Skynyrd's sound. The band is proud to be Southern and American ('That's How I Like It') and they get us dancing with their most upbeat tracks ('Pick 'Em Up', 'Rockin' Little Town'). He also knows how to vary the pleasures, flirting with the riffs of Mötley Crüe on a powerful and catchy 'All Funked Up', sweating on a heavy and slow 'Mad Hatter' like a dark grey sky torn apart by a guitar solo as sharp as a ray of sunshine, or demonstrating his art of the controlled rise in power on an emotional 'Life's Lessons'.
So it's time to pay the tribute they deserve to the current members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. And if you're one of the battalions of conservatives who don't think this band deserves any more attention since the death of its principal members in 1977, we advise you to give this 'Vicious Cycle' a listen. There's a good chance you'll get a good slap in the face that will shake your certainties and make you come back to a band as talented as it is proud and honest. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. That's How I Like It - 4:33 02. Pick 'Em Up - 4:20 03. Dead Man Walkin' - 4:30 04. The Way - 5:32 05. Red White And Blue - 5:31 06. Sweet Mama - 3:59 07. All Funked Up - 3:33 08. Hell Or Heaven - 5:14 09. Mad Hatter - 5:38 10. Rockin' Little Town - 3:36 11. Crawl - 5:09 12. Jake - 3:41 13. Life's Lessons - 6:00 14. Lucky Man - 5:35 15. Gimme Back My Bullets (w. Kid Rock) [Bonus] - 3:41
LINEUP:
Billy Powell: Claviers Ean Evans: Basse Gary Rossington: Guitares Hughie Thomasson: Guitares Johnny Van Zant: Chant Michael Cartellone: Batterie Rickey Medlocke: Chant / Guitares
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