Death of Carl Albert, More Lineup Changes and A New Style (1995-2005)
At the end of the Word of Mouth tour, Mark McGee decided to leave and went on to play with Gregg Allman & Friends. Steve Smyth (later of Nevermore fame) is the chosen new guitarist.
On April 22, 1995 as a result of a car accident, singer Carl Albert (1962–1995) tragically died.
The band decides to go on in memory of their talented singer. The CD A tribute to Carl Albert (including bootleg recordings taken from the Word of Mouth European tour) and the home-video The First Ten Years were released first. The song "Perpetual", included on the Something Burning album, was the last track he wrote. Mark McGee, for one of his solo projects (actually unpublished), composed and recorded the song "Find Your Way Home" dedicated to the memory of his lost friend.
After the death of Carl Albert, the band became more unstable. Tommy Sisco and Larry Howe stayed for two more albums: Something Burning in 1996 (this album is sung by Geoff Thorpe because "there is no one who can take Carl's place") and Cyberchrist in 1998 (with Brian O'Connor as vocalist). In 2001 the band releases Sadistic Symphony with a new singer (Morgan Thorn, who will suddenly be replaced by the return of O'Connor). These three albums are different for their more groovy, experimental and modern style but also for the more powerful but less "classic" vocals.
The band in this years is totally renewed: Cornbread is the new bass player, Ira Black (later with Lizzy Borden) fills the spot of the other guitarist after Smyth, while world famous session man Atma Anur, Dan Lawson and Will Carrol (later with Death Angel) replace Larry Howe until he returns in the band. In 2005 those musicians (and the classic ones) appear on the "Crushing the World" DVD that sums up various eras of Vicious Rumors and offers audio-video footage of three unreleased tracks: Poveglia, Broken Wings, Fight.
Read more about this topic: Vicious Rumors, Biography
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