Venom Inc.

As if the band name and logo didn't make it obvious, Venom Inc. is a Venom offshoot of sorts. But this isn't just a case of some former members getting together, as the trio here (Tony Dolan, Mantas, and Abaddon) essentially was Venom in the late 80's and early 90's, during Venom mainman Cronos' sabbatical. The origins of this band go back to around 2010, when Dolan and Mantas started up M-Pire Of Evil, initially featuring yet another former Venom drummer. That incarnation lasted a few years and put out two albums, and then original Venom drummer Abaddon returned to the fold, and Venom Inc. was born, quickly releasing Avé in 2017. As was the case with M-Pire (and, indeed, with newer Venom itself), the first question on everyone's mind is how this compares, in style as well as in quality, with the classic raw early proto-black-death metal that Venom became famous for. While Venom itself has been releasing quality albums for several years now, Avé is arguably a bit closer to what one might expect from recent Venom, in that it retains some of the spirit and style of the days of yore (occasionally Mantas tosses out a riff that just reeks of the Black Metal era) with plainly more mature musicianship and a shade more modern songwriting. In other words, energetic, above-average black-tinged thrashy metal, delivered with the conviction one would expect. Nice to see that original Venom spirit live on both here and with Cronos' crew.

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Discography

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