Black metal pioneers VENOM will release their 15th full-length studio album, “Storm The Gates”, on December 14 through Spinefarm Records. The follow-up to 2015’s “From The Very Depths” will be made available on CD and digital formats, with vinyl and cassette versions to arrive in early 2019. The first single “Bring Out Your Dead” can be streamed below.
According to a press release, “Storm The Gates” is “a classic call-to-arms from a legendary band who can legitimately be classed as both original and genre-defining.” The disc was produced by front-man Conrad “Cronos” Lant, who stated about the effort: “We always say that a song has to find itself, has to develop. We’ve had nearly three years with these compositions, speeding some up, slowing some down, changing the lyrics, adding breaks, moving verses… that’s how songs grow, and that’s how you end up writing a better album. That’s why I don’t believe in releasing a record every year — you can’t possibly have let those songs develop to their full potential. These albums are going to be around a lot longer than I am, so they need to be able to stand up for themselves. With an album every year, I think you end up with two or three good songs and then a load of shit, and I certainly don’t want to release that sort of album.”
“Storm The Gates” track listing:
01. Bring Out Your Dead
02. Notorious
03. I Dark Lord
04. 100 Miles To Hell
05. Dark Night (Of The Soul)
06. Beaten To A Pulp
07. Destroyer
08. The Mighty Have Fallen
09. Over My Dead Body
10. Suffering Dictates
11. We The Loud
12. Immortal
Since 2009, this latest incarnation of the group has had a clear vision of who they are and where they want to go. They steadfastly refuse to compromise or waiver in their beliefs, building on the signature style and sound established by Cronos back in 1979. As both artist and producer, this iconic front-man – and VENOM‘s beating black heart – effectively opened the gates (of hell) for a whole new brand of metal, genuinely changing the game with an intensity never before seen or heard.
“Storm the Gates” Album Artwork
Mixing the caustic energy and serrated edge of punk with the volume and bombast of metal, adding a life-threatening amount of pyro, then brutally dragging the whole thing through a tangled hedge of thorns, VENOM has been responsible for some of the guitar world’s most revered – and feared – compositions. Titles to be whispered in darkened, cob-webbed rooms. There was metal and then there was Black Metal. VENOM Metal.
Now approaching the band’s 40th anniversary, VENOM have matured into a true force of nature – louder, faster, nastier and ready to unleash the hounds of hell with “Storm The Gates”, studio album No. 15. Produced by Cronos himself, this is the raw sound of a band who don’t need tricks of technology to make their point. The titles tell it all: “Bring Out Your Dead” (the lead single/video), “100 Miles To Hell,” “Destroyer,” “Beaten To A Pulp,” “Dark Night (Of The Soul)” – simply, there is no mellowing in spirit, nothing less than un-tempered rage and roar.
In 2018, VENOM stand, as always, atop a pile of crushed skulls, wielding blood-stained sonic weapons designed to repel all that is weak and watered-down. There is real integrity here, a defined set of values, plus of course the ongoing ability to create music so worshipped by their Legions of followers worldwide. The songs themselves are drawn from such passion, based on audience chants, insane mosh-pits of excitement, and that feeling of being part of something enduring and special. No other line-up of the band has come close to what Cronos, Rage and Dante can deliver.
