Metal Black

Don't get me wrong - I do think Venom is one of the most genre-defining bands ever, and their first couple of albums remain absolute classics. Especially "Welcome to Hell" is mandatory listening material, being a very early foray into a dark and forbidding musical territory, combining a NWOBHM approach with a Motorhead-esque sound with an occasionally satanic imagery.

On "Metal Black" they've apparently attempted to rediscover these dark and disturbing roots, but in that particular respect they've failed miserably. I don't doubt that, if your metallic music diet so far has consisted of unmentionables like Korn, POD, Linkin Park etc, you'll probably think this is heavy, evil shit. And you may not be entirely wrong, but the problem is that most of the tracks on this overlong album sound like a rehash of not only Venom's own previous material, but also of Slayer's, Pantera's and (aaaarrrrgh!) Machine Head's output.

Some of the songs presented here are quite heavy, to be sure. But they are heavy in the wrong way - simple as that. Venom come across sounding more like a mix of a Pantera tribute and a Venom tribute band band than anything else (with the occasional Slayer-type riff thrown in for good measure). And some songs most certainly cross over into self parody-territory (I mean, come on, listen to 'Rege Satanas' - it sounds utterly ridiculous; a song probably designed to scare 15-year-old newcomers to metal).