VENOM "Metal Black" Castle / Sanctuary
Six years after "Resurrection", VENOM delivers its third attack since their
comeback in ’96. There are good and bad in this album. Let’s begin by the
worst : how can a legendary band like VENOM plays nineties pseudo aggressive
metal as "House Of Pain", "Death And Dying", "Darkest Realm"," Lucifer Rising"
and "Blessed Dead" are nothing else than crap ! So, from the 14 tracks, it
remains 9 interesting ones : four quite good brutal kick ass stuffs ("A Good
Day To Die", "Assassin", "Hours Of Darkness", "Sleep When I’m Dead"), three
effective black magic that rock ("Burn In Hell", "Regé Satanas", "Maleficarum"),
and two highlights of massive devastation ("Antechrist", "Metal Black").
About the musicianship (if we can use this word in the case of this band),
Cronos still got the voice and the venomous bass, Antton is still a better
drummer than Abaddon, Mykvs did a good job although Mantas’ guitar is missing
in the best tracks. The good thing is VENOM has kept the spirits of the old
days, but the songs are not as memorable as in their heydays. As a result,
it’s an okey album that is enjoyable to play in the stereo. Note that a 7’’
single limited to 500 copies is also released, including "Antechrist" and
"Metal Black", the two best tracks of this album.
Patrick Lefevre
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