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Album Review – Venom / From the Very Depths (2015)

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Unfortunately, a huge lack of depth is what you will find in the new album by the trailblazers of Black Metal.

Rating6

venom_from the very depthsThe beginning of the 80’s witnessed the birth of the most obscure form of extreme music, Black Metal, thanks almost exclusively to British Black Metal pioneers Venom. For instance, Heavy Metal icons such as Slayer, Cradle of Filth, Kreator, Candlemass, Paradise Lost, among several other Thrash, Speed, Black Metal and NWOBHM bands, were heavily influenced by their music, with songs like Welcome To Hell, Black Metal, Witching Hour, In League With Satan and Countess Bathory becoming legitimate satanic anthems.  Now with From the Very Depths, the fourteenth studio album by this Newcastle-based band formed in the distant year of 1979, Cronos and his crew want to keep the fire of their venomous kingdom burning and disturbing the minds of the weak.

However, if Venom’s first two albums, Welcome to Hell (1981) and Black Metal (1982), are the epitome of this devilish subgenre of heavy music, pretty much all of their following releases lacked innovation, intensity and, consequently, importance (I doubt you can name a relevant song of any of their other albums). From the Very Depths is no exception to that, with its musicality being so rudimentary they seem more like an amateur garage band than those trailblazers of Extreme Metal with so many decades on the road. Cronos, La Rage and Dante stick to the very basics of heavy music, with not a single moment of creativity showcased throughout the album. That would not have been an issue if they were as good as Motörhead or AC/DC, but their extremely limited skills make From the Very Depths an album with absolutely no depth.

But is From the Very Depths really that bad? Well, if you keep your expectations really low you might enjoy some parts of the album. After the intro Eruptus, which really transmits a sense Venom are rising from the very depths of hell, we have the title-track From the Very Depths, which despite not being Black Metal per se (it feels more like Thrash Metal) it’s a very good exhibit of dark and extreme music, with the resonant bass lines by Cronos setting the tone during the whole song. The following track, The Death of Rock ‘N’ Roll, has a dark Hardcore/Punk Rock atmosphere, with lyrics that couldn’t sound more Venom than that (“We met the devil at the gates / Not at the crossroads or by humiliate / The man of blues can sell his soul / We’d rather party with the demons… down below”). In addition, its nonstop instrumental helps enhance the electricity of this song, which in my opinion is the best of the album.

venomAfter that satisfactory start, the issues start to appear in From the Very Depths. Smoke is not only generic, especially its lyrics, but it also lacks that wickedness so necessary in Black Metal and it goes on for grueling five minutes. A song so long should have presented more variations or at least a minimum of energy in its riffs, don’t you agree? Temptation sounds like a rip-off of Venom themselves, where the bass lines mess its harmony instead of boosting it, turning it into another disposable track. Leastwise, Cronos’ harsh voice is still in good shape and the song doesn’t go on for torturing five minutes.

The band sounds a lot more cohesive and tuneful in Long Haired Punks, a tribute to Punk Rock and Heavy Metal that connects the heaviest and most deranged aspects of both music genres, with Cronos singing how Venom (and all other metal bands) are punks too (“Fight for survival, hitting the road, get out my way, time for a show / We blast metal, no hip hop or funk, demons from hell, long haired punks”), while Stigmata Satanas, with its very old school sonority, might be nothing outstanding but it’s quite nice, with its crude riffs and vocal lines blending really well with the lyrics, in special with its extremely simple but demonic chorus. On the other hand, Crucified is an awfully uninspired track with a flat rhythm that almost forces you to skip to the next song. The drums by Dante are sadly elementary, sounding like Meg White from the White Stripes without Jack White to salvage the song with more elaborate guitar lines.

Maybe with a more complex (or less monotone) instrumental, Evil Law could have been a really good song, because it contains that trademark devilish aura by Venom, including the wicked noises in the background. In regards to its lyrics (“Fakaa enday yay badah / Urka temeway tado / Coorza onyay femlay / Keelay spray ohapa do”), the only thing I can say is: what the hell is this supposed to mean? Anyway, Grinding Teeth brings back a decent mix of Thrash, Speed and Black Metal, which might sound interesting if it’s chosen for their live performances. Moreover, the band finally tries some different riffs and breaks, helping making the song more delightful.

After another short intro, Ouverture, we have another example of how amateur Venom still sound in Mephistopheles, which despite having a badass attitude it doesn’t offer anything really exciting to the listener. The same can be said about Wings of Valkyrie, a boring track where drums and riffs are negatively overshadowed by the extremely loud bass lines. Lastly, the good song Rise closes the album with the live audience in the background making it sound a lot more organic. If only they had added more of that rawness and brutality to the whole album, From the Very Depths could have been one of the best Extreme Metal albums of the year.

From a technical standpoint there’s almost nothing to be analyzed in From the Very Depths: it’s an album as basic and bland as it can be, with no memorable songs or fresh elements offered in its more than 50 minutes of music. As already mentioned, if you lower your standards (or if you love Venom more than your life) you will actually have some fun listening to From the Very Depths, but it’s hard for anyone else to get thrilled by an album that above all things lack any real depth. Sad to say, after almost 40 years of existence it looks like Venom will continue to be known just as the band who recorded Welcome to Hell and Black Metal.

Best moments of the album: From the Very Depths, The Death of Rock ‘N’ Roll and Long Haired Punks.

Worst moments of the album: Smoke, Temptation, Crucified and Wings of Valkyrie.

Released in 2015 Spinefarm Records

Track listing
1. Eruptus 1:01
2. From the Very Depths 3:54
3. The Death of Rock ‘N’ Roll 3:09
4. Smoke 5:01
5. Temptation 3:52
6. Long Haired Punks 4:02
7. Stigmata Satanas 3:26
8. Crucified 4:06
9. Evil Law 5:03
10. Grinding Teeth 4:11
11. Ouverture 1:16
12. Mephistopheles 4:06
13. Wings of Valkyrie 4:00
14. Rise 4:34

Band members
Conrad “Cronos” Lant – vocals, bass guitar
Stuart “La Rage” Dixon – guitar, backing vocals
Danny “Dante” Needham – drums, backing vocals

Metal Chick of the Month – Lisa Thompson & Jessica Marsden

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lisa_jess

Lisa and Jess, the “sweet poison” of Sovereign Council.

Although the music by Canadian Symphonic Metal band Sovereign Council is already professional and pleasant enough to draw the attention of any metalhead that loves listening to some good symphonic heavy music, two of their band members can be considered a huge plus to their live performances, especially to the eyes and hearts of all regular guys (and even some girls) attending the show. Given the fact that this session of the Headbanging Moose is called “Metal Chick of the Month”, I bet you have an idea of what I’m talking about. Thus, for the first time in this website we have not only one, but two metal chicks at the same time to our total delight: the beautiful singer Lisa Thompson, and the stunning keyboardist Jessica “Jess” Marsden.

I had the pleasure to see this Kingston-based band opening for German Power Metal icons Primal Fear in Toronto, in May this year, and I can say those girls are more than just pretty faces on the stage. They are truly talented musicians, which by the way is what really matters in the end, enhancing the overall performance of the band with their voices, instruments and moves. You can take a listen at their contribution to the musicality of Sovereign Council in their official ReverbNation and YouTube channels, but not before checking out the biographies below to know more interesting details about those two beauties.

LISA THOMPSON

lisa01Born and raised in Ottawa, the official capital of Canada, Lisa Thompson grew up surrounded by rock music, with her father being a musician playing lead electric guitar and organ in local rock bands.  Lisa always sang as a child and, at the age of 10, her parents decided to start her up in singing and piano lessons.  She trained for nine years vocally, two years piano and then became a vocal coach in 2003. Today she continues to coach full time from her studio in Ottawa and specializes in coaching recording artists, performing musicians and bands.

At the age of 16, Lisa was a hired as a vocalist for a local recording studio in Ottawa and had the opportunity to write a few songs of her own, which fueled her passion for song writing and studio work.  Lisa started performing in rock cover bands in 2003, and over the years she has performed solo, in cover bands, tribute bands, original bands, and has had three albums produced between two different original bands.

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Our gorgeous singer joined Sovereign Council in 2012 as the band’s female vocalist.  She wasn’t looking to join a metal band at the time, but after one listen through the material of New Reign she was hooked to their music, and it was a welcomed challenge for Lisa contributing and writing vocal harmonies for the band. Moreover, performing along with lead singer Alex MacWilliam has been a true partnership feeding off of each other’s performance and vocals, giving their audience a performance of emotions and theatrics.

In regards to her musical interests and influences while growing up, they consist of a wide variety of artists, including names such as Evanescence, Disturbed, Silverchair, Led Zepplin, Eva Cassidy and Holly McNarland, just to name a few. You can see by this list that our charming female singer’s taste for music goes beyond metal, appreciating any artist that brings forth some high-quality material, especially in terms of singing and lyrics.

“There’s no better feeling than performing! Hearing your audience cheer you on and singing along with you. It’s surreal.” – Lisa Thompson

JESSICA MARSDEN

jess01Born on January 15, 1991 in Burnley, a market town in Lancashire, England, located around 34km north of Manchester, keyboardist Jessica Marsden (or simply Jess) also has a longstanding relationship with music. Her parents encouraged her to follow that path from a very young age: Jess was given her first miniature keyboard when she was only three years old and her father, who had taken a few organ and cornet lessons when he was a child and was more musically inclined than the average person, would play quick little tunes on the little keyboard for her. She then listened to what her father was playing and started figuring out how to play the same thing immediately after. Needless to say, music lessons started up not too long after.

At the age of five, Jess began taking piano lessons. She was able to grasp the basic theory behind it all, but by no means did she enjoy it: all she wanted to do was play the songs that she had heard on the radio or on a CD that her parents listened to. That was “unacceptable”, and therefore she was pushed to read music she was given, but the problema is that she simply hated it. Jess spent a few more years with a different teacher, who trained her ear further and provided guitar and vocal lessons.

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When our gorgeous keyboardist hit her senior years in high school, she stopped taking lessons altogether and began to pursue her own musical endeavours. This was around the time when her music taste started to broaden significantly, when she was listening to everything, from Rachmaninoff to Killswitch Engage and, of course, she loved it all. After finishing high school and being involved in several musicals, concerts and competitions, Jess went off to the University of Ottawa, taking classes ranging from Music Studies to Behavioural Psychology. She finished two years of the program and ran out of money, and not too long after returning to Kingston to live with her family and work for a while, a coworker informed her of a local metal band that was looking for a keyboardist. That was when Alex MacWilliam introduced her to Sovereign Council, and she has been there ever since.

According to Jess herself, working with such hard-working and creative individuals like the other members of sovereign Council has really pushed her to play further and further outside of her old comfort zone. She was used to playing softer and more melancholy pieces, although she had always secretly wanted to express her inner beast through heavier music. With that said, can we call Jess the “Beauty and the Beast” of the band?

“With every show, I am able to completely let loose, let my inner passions (love, sorrow and rage) build up, and let it out, turning it into something beautiful and expressive. Hopefully, this is something that many people can relate to and appreciate through our music.” – Jessica Marsden

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Album Review – GlassBullet / Black Eyes EP (2014)

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A British band playing modern American Hard Rock? These guys not only can do it, but they do it really well.

Rating5

glassbullet_black eyesIf I ask you to list some rock bands from the UK, names like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Sex Pistols and Oasis will probably come to your mind. However, although the band I’m about to review here is from the West Midlands in England, their music has nothing to do with the NWOBHM, Punk Rock or Britpop: we’re talking about a musicality almost 100% inspired by a more contemporary American Hard Rock from bands such as Soundgarden, Black Stone Cherry and Alter Bridge. With that said, let me introduce you GlassBullet, a very good British Hard Rock band who are about to release a new EP called Black Eyes on July 19, which is definitely worth a listen.

This talented Birmingham-based quartet has all it takes to become a great success not only in the UK, but also in any other part of the world, including the much-desired North American market. All band members look really focused on what they’re doing individually and, more important than that, collectively, which is essential for the cohesiveness and professionalism found in their music. If they’re already starting on such a high note, one can imagine how far the band can go with some extra years of experience and good support in terms of marketing and logistics. But lest we forget the most important part here, in other words, the music, and that’s their biggest strength on the path to stardom, as it never sounds cheesy, boring or shallow.

If you don’t believe me, just listen to the opening track, Black Eyes, and you’ll see how good GlassBullet are: the Velvet Revolver-ish intro to this song has that cool feeling from modern Hard Rock, plus all instruments and vocals sounding very clean and professional without losing that rawness so important in true Rock N’ Roll. Not only that, its catchy heavy riffs together with a nice guitar solo at the end turn it into an excellent choice for any Rock N’ Roll radio playlist, even with the song surpassing the 6-minute barrier. And the awesomeness goes on in the song Pride & Pain, with its even catchier riff and an above-average performance by guitarist Ben Evans (who’s also a member of British Heavy Metal band Hostile) and drummer Alex Caldicott.

glassbulletThe song SID (which means “Society Is Dead”, according to my reliable sources) showcases a more straight-forward Hard Rock with hints of Southern Rock, especially the riffs and the interesting guitar solo with lots of feeling after the 4th minute of the song, while the last track, Shot In The Dark, simply shows us this band is really good in composing totally addictive riffs. Besides, it surely has all the necessary elements to become a radio hit: an awesome chorus, good lyrics, a heavy and exciting rhythm, and even some pleasant progressive parts halfway through the song.

Even the nice album art, designed by FarhaRAWRR Photography, reminds us of some album covers from the aforementioned Hard Rock bands from the US. And if after all that information you’re really curious to know more about GlassBullet and how they were able to be so British and American at the same time, you can take a listen at their previous EP called Misguided, released in September 2012, at their official bandcamp page, while you wait for Black Eyes (which will be available on the same location and also on iTunes and other online stores) to be released in July.

Best moments of the album: Shot In The Dark was my favorite of the four tracks.

Worst moments of the album: It’s not fair to choose a “bad” song out of only four, especially due to the high quality of all. Let’s wait to do it when they release a full-length album, right? That’s also the reason why it didn’t get more than a 3.0.

Released in 2014 Independent

Track listing
1. Black Eyes 6:16
2. Pride & Pain 4:59
3. SID 6:16
4. Shot In The Dark 5:07

Band members
Lewis Ward – vocals, guitar
Ben Evans – lead guitar
Tom Bushell – bass guitar
Alex Caldicott – drums