Search - Various Artists :: A Tribute to Venom

A Mediocre Tribute to a Classic Band...

11/16/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Whether you want to classify Venom as black metal or not, it's undeniable that this band was the most influencial band in metal's history. To hell with Black Sabbath's stupid bluesy hard rock; *EVERY* black metal and death metal band owes part of their existence to Venom. Taking that into consideration, I can't understand why a tribute like this was released. First of all, this is not a "new" Venom tribute, it is just Dead Line's domestic version of "In the Name of Satan" with an extra track by the Electric Hellfire Club. The new packaging is quite honestly, silly looking, and the inclusion of the Electric Hellfire Club track doesn't help. None of the bands on this tribute are truly underground, something I would have liked to see; in addition, from what I understand, most of the "bands" on here were only for name recognition. (Witching Hour was done by Mille with session members, *NOT* Kreator) All of the covers on here are musically competent, with the truest to form being Skyclad's "Prime Evil." (unfortunately, from Venom's lackluster sans-Cronos years) The worst renditions are the Nuclear Assault cover of "Die Hard," whose joke-of-a-vocalist Connelly ruins the song, and the Electric Hellfire Club cover, which is obviously just industrial filler that Dead Line (affiliated with oh-so-goth Cleopatra) saw fit to add. On a final note, the industrial covers are worthless; I can't even tell whether these songs were recorded by the Cronos or non-Cronos lineup, the vocals are so bad...In any case, that leaves 7 salvageable covers. All the bands cover their renditions in their typical style (with Sodom, Kreator, and Messiah/Candlemass doing the best jobs), the exceptions being Paradise Lost and Anathema, who pick up the tempo from their normal doomy fare. That being said, even if you do like Venom, don't expect the songs to be played in Venom's classic style; these songs are more or less interpretations, rather than covers. Although this is a decent tribute, it saddens me to think of what it could have been. Not counting "In the Name of...," this is only the second Venom tribute ever made, and it's quite a lackluster one, considering all the Venom covers that have been done and not compiled...I'd rather have seen these songs on bonus tracks by these respective artists. Enthusiasts of more popular thrash acts may love this album, but those seeking Venom fare covered by more underground bands will be left uncontent with this release."