Venom - Hell Review
Posted by Dan Haggerty on 10.06.2008
Venom is back to school kids on the old school. But is it worth tuning in?
Always better known for whom they influenced, than what the actually recorded, Venom is an enigma of a band. Influential on multiple extreme metal scenes, but never an extreme band themselves. Dirty, loose, and at times more in common with a loud clatter of ideas: Yes. But still basically a poor NWOBHM interpretation of Satan infused Motorhead; one bass guitar plugged into a leads amp, down tuned and distorted even for a garage like production, and a whole shit load of everything your local PTA wanted to ban and these blokes were a cornerstone of the extreme underground. Black metal copped its name from their sophomore album of the same title, and death metal bands can point to the bands sound. Thrash even can call these dudes a forefather.
But Venom never rose to the ranks of notoriety of the very bands they influenced. Always doing there own thing, a pile of anti-social concepts over classic metal produced under budget, the band has forged on with a foot firmly planted in their form. And by band I mean the one and only true constant, lead man Cronos. Continuous line up changes, hiatus for projects, has left the band a large catalog in its wake that still remains more of a historical note in the history of metal.
Eleven albums under their belt, and now Venom is back with their 12th, Hell. Is it worth dropping a few bones to check out?
1. Straight To Hell 04:26
2. The Power And The Glory 05:10
3. Hand Of God 04:33
4. Fall From Grace 03:27
5. Hell 05:06
6. Evil Perfection 03:34
7. Stab U In The Back 04:31
8. Armageddon 03:26
9. Kill The Music 03:13
10. Evilution Devilution 04:27
11. Blood Sky 05:11
12. USA For Satan 04:49
13. Dirge/The Awakening 03:32
Total playing time 55:25
Collectors Information
This album has also been released as a digi-pack and contains the bonus tracks:
14: In League With Satan (live) (5:32)
15: Burn in Hell (live) (3:00)
The Review
The first thing to get out of the way is that this is not Venom 2008. This is Venom 1984 if they would have had the personnel, the chops, and the production. Now I’m not saying that the band had poor players back then, only that this incarnation is tight and on form. I’m not saying that this incarnation is composed of better players, but certainly veterans that are, again, tight in their performance. Lets face it, the original albums were to loose you had to wonder if the guys new (or even cared) about things like keeping time. Finally, I’m not saying that this has a stellar production. It’s still got some of that Venom ProductionTM to it. Some. But it is more of a sound in the guitars, drums, and vocals. This does not, however, sound like it was played in a vacuum cleaner sitting out in the garage. It sounds underground without sounding below ground.
The main reason for the 84 reference is that the music is fully couched in this period. They sound like this could have, if given the budget and the ware-withal, been an album the band would have done then. You have the dirty and distorted British invasion chunked up by Lemmy’s attack, with a node to the thrash scene going off at the time. Many bands evolve their sound and pick up bits of the metal scene in the last two decades. Venom is time locked for the most part, save for a little groove to their step, and just happy enough to live in their skin and be Venom – Only difference being this Venom has almost 30 years of experience to bring to this thrash black party.
The new band is good. Rage is a great guitarist, and there is some damn fine soloing. He has some moments in the later part of this long play that are stellar (See “Kill The Music” and “Blood Sky”). Drummer Antony Lant (Cronos brother actually), sounds great. He’s solid and brings a classical metal performance where he drifts into a percussionist attack at times. Plus he’s been recorded great, and has a full middle boom to his bang. Cronos is Cronos; his chugging rhythms still define the bands sound and a voice that is distinct in its form. While he inspired a generation of growlers, he doesn’t growl so much as bellow like a demon attempting a more traditional style of vocals.
But the time-locked nature of this beast is also an issue. While putting out an old-school album is a great idea, you still need to nail it or add something/advance the formula to make it work, which this does not. Hell is a splendid trip down an older dark metal road with some good songs, but add a few average ones as well and you have nothing definitive on the subject. A couple of songs could have easily been left off an eventual single or EP. Plus Lant’s drum kit sounds good in the mid ranges, but if they were going with a down and dirty 80’s sound, they should have but the bottom end in as well. That would have beefed things up. As it is the songs are primarily driven by Cronos’ bass. Not a bad thing, but not all it could be either.
Basically, Venom is still Venom, doing what they will and pumping out some chunks of metal in their own particular style. Their not going to advance or even bother cleaning up the crypt they’ve been hiding in, happy enough to be statesmen to the extreme scene we enjoy today but not really carrying to use it. There is something remarkably fresh in that attitude. Sure, a few songs should have been left off, and nothing is going to break heads anew, but still a good time.
The 411: Hell is an old school shot in the arm of thrash and NWOBHM married to tradition metal. Down-tuned and distorted guitars smear out good riffs and fun rhythms while Cronos hands you the keys to purgatory. The axe work steals the show at times with some damn good solos as well. Venom won’t set the world on fire with Hell, too time-locked within their own catalog for some, and a little long for it’s own good. But Venom is sitting comfortably in a nitch of their own design to produce solid, infectious, and fun metal the old way with the new vigor of a solid and tight band.
