After receiving so many albums in the mail, you'd think I would have honed the art of judging a book by its cover fairly well by now. I thought the same thing, until this album sent my whole world crashing down. Well, ok, that's a gross overstatement if I've ever written one, but the contents of this album did come as a bit of a surprise. When seeing the name Vice Dolls, and then looking closely at the cover art, I was getting ready to hear some street punk. Instead, I got some female-fronted hardcore. Weird.

The Vice Doll's sound isn't all that polarizing or unusual, they throw in hints of melody, as well as some heavy riffing, and some shout along choruses. Really, their music doesn't at all deviate from that of many bands playing this style. But what will likely make or break this band for a lot of people is the vocals. Personally, I think Carrie Nance has an interesting voice, and I'd take her unique delivery over some low grunting nonsense any day. Her voice really adds a different dimension to this release, and almost certainly will grab the listener's attention. To reiterate, the music is good, if typical, but the vocals are what will make people take notice. I've seen some mixed reviews, and while I will concede that Nance should avoid singing, the energy with which she barks out the lyrics is infectious.

So, I'd definitely recommend checking this out, but it's likely to turn some people off immediately. I listened to this album quite a bit at work, and it did what no caffeine-enhanced drink could, it kept me awake. It's energetic, it's aggressive, it's fun to listen to, there aren't really any glaring flaws in this album, but there's still room for improvement.

Killing Words MP3