VENOM "Storm The Gates"

VENOM

"Storm The Gates"

You won't find too many bigger Venom fans than Yours Truly.  I've been into them since I first heard the hammering hell-riffs of "Sons of Satan" on "Welcome To Hell" more than 35 years ago. I've also enjoyed many of their more recent albums of evil biker metal. With "Storm The Gates", I have to admit that we have the first Venom album which is just too "by the numbers" for me to recommend.

The album still has some tracks which make me wanna howl at the moon, but many like "Dark Lord", "Destroyer" and "Beaten To A Pulp" just sit like inanimate objects with no distinguishing characteristics. They are tired, written strictly by formula. I expect better. The band themselves play on a more than serviceable level but don't seem to want to reach for something more intense and savage. A change is needed...a jolt of hellfire or maybe a kick in the ass from a cloven hoof.

There are some cuts worthy of the Venom of old...the rabidly thrashy "The Mighty Have Fallen", the punk-fueled anthem "We The Loud" and the intriguing "Immortal", which manages to sound both hellish and happy at the same time. "Storm The Gates" is not really awful, it just desperately needs that jolt I spoke of earlier. Their last album "Fallen Angels" had it. This one doesn't. Oh well, I still bet they scorch live...

SPINEFARM

VENOM