(Click Album Cover for Samples)

“Lay down your soul to the gods of Rock N’ Roll!” Those are the words EVERY single person remembers when hearing the title track to Venom’s sophomore release “Black Metal.” Those words have always been kind of true in terms of Venom because of them coining the now infamous term, “Black Metal.” But, when you talk about Venom you cannot help but get into the whole discussion of who started “Black Metal” whether it was Bathory, Pentagram, or even Black Sabbath (I’ve heard people use the Black Sabbath argument).

But after so many “Black Metal” bands such as Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, and so on and so on, Venom as a band kind of faded away leaving the term, the image, and the attitude for the newer bands to take and make their own. Slowly, but surely, Venom had tried to stay revelant to the metal world, not the “Black Metal” world, with albums such as “Cast in Stone”, “Metal Black”, and now “Hell.” While Venom no longer really consists of the original members, Cronos being the sole leader and foundation, they have still have not let up or changed much of the ideologies that they began with.

“Hell” is very much a heavy album with very moody overtones, which at times, taps into a more “Doom Metal” emotion. At times, the album reminds me of Slayer’s “Diabolus In Musica” with the slow, droning riffs, heavy and prominent bass, and double bass drumming. The lyrics still hold true to their Ideology of doom, Armageddon, death, and anti-Christianity. In reality, very little has changed in the bands style, maybe a modernizing of playing, but this album actually fits pretty well within todays “Metal” world.

Forest Silence at Myspace

Forests. Silence. Winter. Philosophy. Of. Never before have those five words been arranged so fittingly. This album is all about winter. Summer ain’t got shit on winter, bitch. Winter’s got frostbitten motherfuckers all up in your PIECE. Winter’s the fucking bomb. Winter’s ice cold, motherfucker. You don’t fuck with winter. The guy who made this, you know his name? That’s right, motherfucker. Winter.

These are some of the coldest 35 minutes ever recorded. Every song feels like the Grinch pushing your head under a bath of crushed ice. The album marches along to a suffocating drum beat, accompanied by endless tremello picking and the occasional ethereal synth interlude to break any monotony. Winter’s vocals are nothing remarkable, but they’re right for the job. A crackled, distant growl, he sounds like he’s got a sore throat from spending all winter in silent philosophical forests.

If there’s a problem with this album, which there is because I just started the sentence with “If there’s a problem with this album”, it’s that it’s all a little samey. Each track does a tremendous job of sounding distant and cold and all, but that’s it. There’s emotion throughout, but it’s nothing beyond “woah guys, sure is cold eh?”. Not that that’s really such an issue, since there’s only five tracks anyway and they’re all enjoyable enough despite being very similar to one another.

But yeah, anyway. This album is good and I would recommend it. The atmosphere is tremendous. It does a really brilliant job of sounding nice and cold and frostbitten without being intimidatingly raw. The synth really enhances the music without making it sound gay, which is an achievement. Check it out.