The first blast for 2016 comes in the form of grindpunk supergroup Venomous Concept and their third LP Kick Me Silly; VC3. Twenty short, sharp bursts paying homage to old hardcore punk, but being that the band is made up of two parts Napalm Death and two parts Brutal Truth you know this has some weight behind it.
Shuffling longtime Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury to guitar and adding John Cooke (live session player with Napalm Death and Anaal Nathrakh) on second guitar has thickened out the sound and made room for the occasional squealing lightning speed solo.
At times the riffs and power make the songs basically sound like Kevin Sharp singing for Napalm Death. The grind of ‘Busy With Your Dead’ and the ten second ‘Johnny Cheeseburger’ speeding by. The aptly titled ‘Anthem’ is pretty catchy straight-up hardcore; the album’s twenty tracks occasionally blend in together. The album’s longest song ‘Forever War’ (clocking in at a marathon 3:17!) is a slightly more atmospheric number, that musically reminds me of the Dead Kennedys.
There are plenty of bands playing this style, but when it’s done with such passion and venom, you can’t help but enjoy it. They also just released a pretty rad cover ‘Suffragette City’ in tribute to David Bowie.
Critical Mass airs every Wednesday from 9PM (GMT+8) on RTR FM 92.1 in Perth, Australia.
