By Lisa Burke
June 23rd 2016, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Of all the nights I’ve spent at Whisky-A-Go-Go in recent years, Thursday June 23rd 2016 was probably the one that became the most jam-packed to the max capacity with the majority of the population consisting of our younger generation. I’ve never felt so old and so young at the same time, and the best part about it is that these average of eighteen year olds are there to see a 2016 version of a legendary band originating in 1979 which is an average of twenty years before they were born. Venom Inc. was the headliner on this night, which if you are unaware, consists of now former Venom members Jeff “Mantas” Dunn and Anthony “Abaddon” Bray who basically decided to start up a “new” band titled Venom Inc. with Tony “The Demolition Man” Dolan on vocals and bass, because they can. So it’s not 100% the original incarnation, but it’s not really a cover band either, and basically it’s similar to when Entombed added the A.D., and it’s better than when Danzig, Doyle, or Jerry Only decide to play Mistfits songs without being in the same room together. I arrived on the scene to catch Fortress followed by Sunlord and Necrophagia, who I was also excited to see for the first time.
Fortress is a local young heavy metal group that even while seemingly still getting their feet wet in a live setting in terms of stage presence and banter, the vocalist and guitar player stood out in the most creative and talented way. An obvious influence for this band seems to be Judas Priest as well as Iron Maiden, and they pulled off a pretty great cover of ‘Victim Of Changes’ by Judas Priest. The singer’s voice seems very well trained, mature, and really gets the essence of Rob Halford perhaps mixed in with a little Bruce Dickinson and James Luna. The riffage was high quality at the right moments and played with professional ease. The levels got better throughout the set as the bass tone started a bit rough, and the singer wouldn’t show his face for the first couple songs much at all. By the end however, the only aspect that went up in smoke was the lack of a little stage banter directed at the audience between songs, but with the vocalist’s impressive range, it was easily forgotten. All in all, this quintet had the right look and amount of skill to go far, and with a little more of their own thrashy style they are guaranteed to turn heads.
Next up was heavy metal trio Sunlord from New York City who really shined for me with their witty subject matter of NYC shit holes and witchery mixed in with the vocalist’s Argentinian/NY accent and some thrashy punky undertones at times, it all easily exceeded expectations. The proficiently creative drumming added in an extra splash of crash that enhanced the speedy vibe, and the bass was particularly rocking, even played pick style which was appropriate for this genre and personal flavor. Bass players usually go underrated at times, or it becomes too overpowering, but certain instances call for special situations that require more than keeping the low tones in balance and those bands and moments are exciting and missed when all is said and done. All the bass players from this band onward really topped their game and all had very different styles. This is just one of the many quirks that makes heavy metal fun and complex. The lyrical/vocal style of Sunlord included deep and heavy vocals mixed with some very manly short grunts that also added a lighthearted yet tough image to the band. They offered to hand out a free record to anyone who exchanged a photo of the band, which was a kind gesture as well as a good marketing ploy. I was in my comfort zone throughout this band, and I am definitely putting them on my radar for future LA shows.
Somewhere around 10:30, old school death metal Necrophagia hit the stage in all their devilish glory. Mr. Frank “Killjoy” Pucci is still the original singer and even on all the booze and drugs he claimed to be on from back pain issues, he still busted out the growls and clearer tones flawlessly. To top off the sounds he also brings the image with the beard dreads as well as the microphone stand being the color of bile and mixed in with a skeleton hand, large bloody eyeball in a net, and an old chain all attached to the stand, it sets the appropriate tone. They used older style somber backing tracks as intros as is common in some death metal bands, and what shines for this band is that it is my ideal style for what death metal should be, in the vein of ‘Death’ complete with providing the listener an actual ability to understand some of the lyrics. The bass player with finger picking style and sway motions had some wild jams going on that added just the right amount of dark to the darkness. Again, yes the guitar was great too, but bass needs more attention these days, plus this bassist was really charismatic to watch. I am not sure what was up with the touring members on this tour in terms of originality, or if some were just filling in on this tour, but there were only four of them total. Regardless, it was an exciting time and one of the most underrated legends of their own right and time in the land of death metal.
Here’s the point where the venue is packing in and a huge line has formed outside full of children up past their bedtimes. Also, unfortunately holding your bladder till the end of a band at this point is a really assinine idea because teenage girls are die hard Venom Inc. fans as it turns out and lucky or unlucky for me, I had the privilege of being in a teenage selfie because what else are you supposed to do while you wait to urinate while surrounded by teenagers in the girls bathroom line? After this madness of underage teens with tiny bladders I escaped to the upstairs of the venue where I still feared for my elderly life as drunken 21-year olds, or so we hoped, were falling up the stairs towards me. The great part though was that my birds eye view of the mosh pit during Venom Inc. was far from a dull experience as a very tough young girl held her own in a t-shirt that said ‘bulldozer’ on it while knocking boys to the ground. Meanwhile, in the corner a very meek young girl sobs to her boyfriend after getting pummeled in the pit. By the way, during the commotion the extreme metal trio Venom Inc. is blowing people’s minds away and no one finds this to be any sort of undermining to the original line up once in flight. They came around after the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and they have that vibe as well as their early works sounding very Motörhead influenced, which to me undermines their capabilities despite the awesomeness of the actual tunes. They also bring the old school thrash to the table better than many of that era, and the word on the street is that they “created” black metal. They of course had an album called ‘Black Metal’ that came out after ‘Welcome To Hell’, and hearing songs off of these there are elements of black metal for sure, and they liked to put Satan into the mix for the shock value because it used to be even more of a blasphemy back in the day, yet this is old school English black metal which is far different in culture from the other prime origins such as Norway.
Whatever you want to call it in all its simplicity in structure and tempo at times, it is still wildly complex in crossover. From the custom demonized studded leather jacket to the riffs and beats, the energy was amazing at this show and the pit was raging. Crowd surfing champion guy lasted almost three minutes up there impressively while managing to land on stage and backflip right off again before security could fuck with him. The youngsters definitely know how to shred up a pit without too much violence, except of course for the fight that broke out at the very end of the night after the show, but they lived. Venom Inc. played almost two hours and covered all the Venom eras with favorite hits ‘Sons Of Satan’, ‘Witching Hour’, and ‘Black Metal’ among others. At the end, the singer from Necrophagia joined them on stage and that worked very well together in my opinion on all levels. I always enjoy seeing the band members of support bands join in and share the wealth. Venom as well as Venom Inc. is pure tough as nails metal in your face from start to finish, and for whatever makes Venom appeal to young metalheads more than most bands of the genre I’m not entirely sure, but it’s absolutely positive nonetheless.
Times change and band members change, but heavy metal carries on and just when you think one band has died it sprouts a second neck and reboots itself. The songs remain the same but technology has not, and it was ultimately apparent at the end of the Venom Inc. set when a girl decided to video selfie herself talking to herself during the performance. I couldn’t look away from this train wreck that carried on for at least twenty minutes total between her filming and re-watching the video during the performance on stage. Later on, as if this wasn’t egocentric enough she walked by me outside about thirty minutes later still watching the same video of herself talking to herself. At this point I wished for my time machine to take me back to pre-cellphone era so I could once again regain my faith in humanity. Venom Inc. however, was well worth all the minor suffering and stink of sweat and leather that lingered upon the night.
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Venom Inc. set list:
01. Welcome to Hell
02. Angel Dust
03. Don’t Burn the Witch
04. Leave Me in Hell
05. Blackened Are the Priests
06. Carnivorous
07. Buried Alive
08. Raise the Dead
09. The Seven Gates of Hell
10. In Nomine Satanas
11. Bloodlust
12. Poison
13. One Thousand Days in Sodom
14. Live Like an Angel (Die Like a Devil)
15. Warhead
16. Sons of Satan
17. Witching Hour
Encore:
18. In League with Satan
19. Die Hard
20. Black Metal
21. Countess Bathory
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