Venom is definitively one of the most influential metal bands of all times and they were genre founders with their first two albums, “Welcome to Hell” (1981) and “Black Metal” (1982). Their third album, “At War with Satan” (1984) left some serious marks on me too with it’s 20 minutes long title track. it was a semi-concept album that tells the story of a war between Heaven and Hell where the latter side wins. Cronos – bass guitar, vocals; Mantas – guitar and Abaddon – drums had major influence on the development of heavy metal and contributed to the creation of other sub-genres such as thrash, speed, death and power metal.
In 1985, Venom released their fourth album entitled “Possessed” which was not as successful as their previous albums. Dunn then left the band to pursue a solo career.
Their fifth album, 1987’s “Calm Before the Storm”, moved away from Satanic themes in favor of “sword and sorcery” material and it was even less successful than Possessed. As result Lant, Clare and Hickey all left Venom which left Bray as the only group member.
As many other fans I lost touch with Venom as many other exciting bands flourished on the scene. Read more Venom – From The Very Depths (2015)
Thrash metal veterans are back with their seventeenth studio album. 10 tracks (plus intro), 50 minutes, Bobby Ellsworth and his brothers in arms are delivering the same type of heavy and merciless metal as they do for more then 30 years. Probably they will never manage to write and record a better album than their 1989’s masterpiece “The Years of Decay”, but that won’t stop them from coming back and grind us all to the ground with the same intensity regularly. “White Devil Armory” it’s not better or worst then any other previous albums they delivered and fans will get one more time their dose of fury, strong riffs, psycho solos and the Bobby trademark screams. On the other hand, the album lack any brilliancy, any outstanding moments, it’s a fair, but still “just another” thrash metal album. Which is probably what exactly most of their fans expecting each and every time. Turn up the speakers, grab your air guitar, it’s axe grinding time!! 
It was five years before “Three Dollar Bill, Yall” and 16 years before “Swan Songs”, the debut Hollywood Undead album. One year after the controversial self titled debut album, the soundtrack of the film “Judgement Night” bought together several rock and rap/hip hop artists and set a new trend in mixing opposite musical genres. Body Count, the rock/metal band of the (in)famous rapper Ice-T it’s definitively one of the reference points of crossover. Although, they might be inspired by artists such as Bad Brains, Living Colour, Mordred, Suicidal Tendencies, Faith No More, etc they inspired and bought to life a generation to follow.
My love for Anthrax started back in the mid 80’s with their murderous second album “Spreading the Disease”. Few years later, their killer “I’m the Man” (1987) literally changed my life and determined my taste in music. Anthrax is not a band, but an institution. Scott Ian is one of the Gods of Riffs while Charlie Benante is one of the Metal masterminds.
This is a journey back in time. The perfect (metal) time capsule which bring the listener back to the golden age of thrash metal, somewhere between 1986 and 1992. Maybe because this is partly the music of my restless, headbanging youth, maybe because the nowadays fancy metalcore mainly sucks, Hatriot was a quite pleasant surprise. Those wicked riffs sounds familiar, the tempo it’s fast (as a shark!!) and the Hatriot machinery seems unstoppable and exhaustless. And well, who would expect anything less from a legendary singer as Steve “Zetro” Souza? And to have a real bridge over time, there are two other Souza’s involved in the band, Steve’s son, the bass player Cody Souza, and drummer Nicholas Souza. What a murderous family business!! Impact is Imminent!!! 
While both fans and critics were skeptical regarding the future of Voivod considering that guitarist Piggy (Denis D’Amour) was Voivod, three years after releasing the supposed final album “Infini” and touring pretty heavily with new guitarist Chewy (Daniel Mongrain), Voivod is back and seems and sound healthier and stronger then ever. Blacky (Jean-Yves Thériault), their former bassist who left the band in 1991 after releasing “Angel Rat” returned as well in 2008, so, “Target Earth” actually have excellent chances to be another murderous Voivod release. And it is. With serious resonances back to “Killing Technology” (1987) and their definitive mile stone “Nothingface” (1989), regarding their lucky thirteen studio album, there’s nothing to complaining about. Actually, if I would not know that Piggy passed away back in 2005, I could swear he delivered secretly all those bone cutter, maniac riffs. Damn! Some of those riffs are quite familiar. This is one of the best Voivod albums since “The Outer Limits” (1993) and a glorious return to their Pink Floyd affected, complex and schizophrenic, thrash metal polluted experimental/progressive/avant-garde (insane) metal. 
The finger and neck snappers are back. Tommy Victor, who lately toured and recorded with Danzig and Ministry, and previousely also collaborated with artists such as Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Trent Reznor, now teamed up with Tony Campos (bass, backing vocals – previously of Static-X) and Alexei Rodriguez (drums – previously of 3 Inches of Blood and Walls of Jericho), to deliver the eight studio album by Prong. “Power of the Damager” was also released by Al Jourgensen’s 13th Planet Records, five years ago and it peaked at #47 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. 
