Posts Tagged ‘venom’
Venom Inc, Necrophagia Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, January 27, 2016
I’m not shy about how I feel about Venom. In general, I can’t care about their classic era. My three favorite albums are Calm Before the Storm, Prime Evil and Temples of Ice. Even knowing that they were playing only one song from the Demolition Man era, I wanted to go. It’s a legendary metal band that I’ve never seen before. Plus I knew I’d get them in The Book.
Before the show, Rodney, his friends and I all had dinner with Venom’s tour manager, John Perez, who was in Rotting Corpse and more importantly for me, Solitude Aeturnus. John’s a good guy all around and I always love seeing him. He and Rodney were trading some pretty incredible stories about Texas metal history.
Opening the show was Hellknife which features fellow ex-Eternal Champion member, Van Darden. As with a few other times, I missed them again. DAMMIT!
San Antonio’s Hod was up next. I’ve seen them a dozen times over the years. Hod is Hod. You know what you’re getting and what you’re not getting. My buddy Jake is playing bass for their live shows these days, so it’s always great seeing that maniac on stage.
Necrophagia was up next. I never liked them but one of my closest friends was always big into them, so I grabbed a shirt for him since he missed the Virginia show. They were solid and Killjoy works the crowd pretty well. Still not a fan, though.
Up next was Venom and the crowd of about 200 packed up closer to the stage. My back has been jacked up for a while, so getting in a crowd that surely was going to be moving around a lot wasn’t appealing, so I hung back and sat at the bar. Killjoy was standing back there next to me and I had him sign The Book.
Venom (Inc), opened with Prime Evil and for the rest of the set they stuck with songs primarily from Black Metal and Welcome to Hell. I didn’t know any of them other than by knowing the titles. Tony Dolan, The Demolition Man, did a fine job fronting and Mantas and Abaddon were as I expected. It was an enjoyable show and when they got to the encore, I knew all of those songs…Black Metal, Welcome to Hell, Countess Bathory and Witching Hour.
After the show, Abaddon came out and signed stuff for everyone. Outside at their tour bus, Tony and Mantas came out and signed stuff. They’re all really nice guys.
Added bonus of getting Louie from Devastation’s signature in the book as well. I love getting the rogue signatures at concerts. Great to see a lot of Austin friends and the Corpus Christi crew hanging out!
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- Louie in The Book!
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- Abaddon in my fave Venom CD
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- Venom in The Book!
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- Killjoy from Necrophagia in The Book! Too bad he signed over the wrong Necrophagia
AT WAR – Infidel – CD Review
It was 1987 when I first met and saw these guys. I was with some former friends and I think we were at the keg party on 
Potter’s Rd seeing Ratchet. I saw them live shortly thereafter and was just blown away. Pure American thrash. They were good friends with another band from that area that I loved, O.T.T., so I got to see and hang out with these guys often. I believe I may have only seen them live twice, which was a pity since they were local homeboys.
It was pretty exciting for me when Paul sat in with my Motorhead tribute band and sang The Hammer. What an honor! It’s really only been in recent years that I really got to know those guys and again, it’s a pity that I don’t live near them these days. Paul and I have become great pals and I got to hang with him here in Austin quite a bit a few months ago when he came in for a visit. What a blast! He’s still a maniac. I love it.
But I guess I am here to talk about their latest album, Infidel. All of us have been asking those guys for years when they would get back together and do another album. We always heard the same thing, “It’s coming.” Sure, Paul. It had been coming for 20 years!
But then it happened. Boom. At War got on Myspace. Started posting news about recording an album with the world famous Alex Perialas. The buzz got going and I was excited that they were really doing it.
So when the record came out, I pulled the rock star card and emailed Paul with “Where’s my copy?” It was said facetiously as anyone who knows me knows I always buys CDs and even hate being on the guest list for a band. Those folks aren’t playing for free, ya know? But Paul sent me one anyway. It was nice to see my name in the special thanks, albeit undeservedly.
So I put the album on right when it came in. BOOM!
AT WAR! Infidel!
Fourteen seconds of noise and then it’s Paul Arnold in your face on the opener Assassins. Hot damn, this sounds like At War! I’ve listened to this about 15 times now and there’s not a stinker in the bunch. If you’ve ever liked At War, then you still will. This really picks up where they left off 22 years ago, except with better production.
It’s difficult for a band that gets back together to record 15+ plus years after the fact and to be able to retain the level of good metal that they once had. At War did it with this one. To be truthful I like this one even better than their previous albums. I really don’t think I am being biased at all. This album kills. It’s At Wars perfect blend of Venom, Motorhead and their own touch of thrash that really always set them a bit apart of other thrash bands of their time.
So…Nice work Paul, Shawn and Dave! Now bring the show to Austin, you fuckers!
I’m the worst Venom fan in the world!
Yes, I admit it. I really have a hard time listening to Venom’s early work. From their debut up to Possessed, I just don’t 
like it. It was/is borderline awful…at least from what I remember. I haven’t laid ears to that stuff since…well since probably 1995.
All that being said I absolutely love the 3 albums after Possessed: Calm Before The Storm, Prime Evil and Temples of Ice. Calm Before The Storm finally brought some melody a band that needed it IMHO. Chanting of the Priests is such an awesome track…albeit sloppy.
After Cronos left, they hired the Demolition Man to handle the bass and vocal duties. I thought his first 2 albums with Venom were pretty good, at least by Venom standards. He has an Udo-esque type vocal style which works well. Prime Evil is better than temples of Ice but has some typical Venom silliness like Skool Daze. Their cover of Megalomania is kind of neat.
I catch grief all the time for not being a “true” Venom fan. To that I say ‘just be happy I even like any of their stuff at all.’ I do have to admit to liking the hooks in Black Metal. Venom was never known for having great lyrics, but these make me grin. I remember having to return a compilation cassette (Metal Killers Kollection II) back to the department store because of this song. My mom was having no parts of that! hahahha
The Metal Files 
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