Sleeping Village Reviews
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!

VENOM PRISON - Primeval (Review)

10/22/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Written by: Izzy

​
I’m noticing a bit of a trend in the world of metal music recently. Maybe I’m just oblivious and this has been happening for a while, but in the last two years especially, I’ve noticed what I’d dare say is an old-school deathcore revival.

In 2019 we had Knocked Loose, Fuming Mouth, Vatican, Serration, and Venom Prison (the lattermost being one of my favourite albums of that year), then just out of 2020 so far we've got Gulch, Xibalba, Year of The Knife, Umbra Vitae, and…Venom Prison again? Maybe 2020 isn’t so bad after all. At the very least, this will be a great opportunity to talk about one of my favourite and most underlooked styles in metal!


Now, seeing the list above may be exceptionally confusing for those unaware of deathcore’s history, so for the ignorant or uninitiated: deathcore did not start in the 2000s like you may have thought. long before Suicide Silence or Despised Icon there was H8000, a Belgian vegan edge metal scene that was born out of the early 90s. These bands were responsible for infusing very prominent death metal sounds into their primarily metalcore based music and creating the earliest forms of deathcore, as well as early melodic metalcore too, as far back as 1991. Nerds like me would refer to this style as old-school deathcore. Commonly with OSDC you’ll get either A. music firmly rooted in death metal but with breakdowns, more punklike riffs, and shouted metalcore vocals as opposed to growls; or B. metalcore or hardcore bands that mix in death metal riffs with their noticeably punky drumming and guitar grooves, sometimes opting to take vocal cues from death metal and use low growls in addition to shouted mids. Deformity and Congress are the more iconic bands to come from the H8000 scene, and serve as perfect examples of the two styles laid out.

Now that you’re caught up on your history, Venom Prison falls squarely into the A category, I’ve seen people call them “death metal with breakdowns,” that’s how important death metal is to their core sound. Their approach is reminiscent of the aforementioned and legendary Deformity; rhythmic and vicious death metal riffing coupled with tempo changes into savage and moshable metalcore grooves, all capped off with brutal breakdowns capable of instantly turning an entire pit of hardcore two-steppers and headbanging metalheads into crowd-killing maniacs.

But despite the somewhat meatheaded veneer of their music, they’re also one of the few deathcore/death metal bands where I’d highly recommend reading the lyrics. Beneath the unearthly growls and stinging rasp of frontwoman Larissa Stupar are some remarkably poetic and bitingly political concepts, making it feel as just as much thought and care was put into these stunning lyrics as into the album’s ferocious instrumentals.
​


In comparison to the band’s last offering, Samsara, released only around a year and a half apart, Primeval feels noticeably more refined and controlled. It leans even more heavily into a traditional death metal sound on many tracks, even exploring much more melodic and harmonious territory in a few spots. The almost grindcore-like unrestrained intensity of Samsara’s blasting drums and manic soloing switching on a dime into a merciless beatdown has been replaced with more mid-tempo and traditional death metal song structures, as well as a cleaner and less gritty mix. Logically speaking, this makes perfect sense. When releasing two albums so close together, having them take slightly different approaches to the same sound keeps things fresh and will draw in new fans who maybe didn’t enjoy what they did on Samsara, but may appreciate Primeval’s slightly tamer but no less demolishing approach. But, personally speaking, I think I prefer Primeval significantly less than Samsara for all the reasons I outlined, it’s an amazing album. Even after listening to their previous offering half a dozen times now at least, I still adore the sound of Samsara and the changes presented on Primeval just aren’t for me, so even though I do love this album I think I’ll be coming back to it less in the grand scheme.

Despite my nitpicks, Primeval is essential listening for any fan of either death metal or metalcore in 2020. Hell if you’re a metalhead, or corehead of any form, you’d be doing a disservice to yourself not listening to this album, it’s further proof Venom Prison are still the best in the business at what they do and continue leading a renaissance of a classic deathcore style.

And, if you love this, do yourself a favour and listen to their other two albums as well!


Venom Prison - Primeval was released Oct. 9th, 2020 from Prosthetic Records

Venom Prison can be found:
Bandcamp
Official Site
Facebook
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome!

    We provide thoughtful reviews of music that is heavy, gloomy...and loud enough to wake us from slumber. Written by a highfalutin peasantry!


    What are ye
    ​ 
    looking for?

    All
    2020
    420
    Acoustic
    Adam Paris
    Albums Of The Decade
    Albums Of The Year
    Alex Bringer Of Payne
    Alternative
    Alternative Metal
    Alternative Rock
    Alt Metal
    Alt Rock
    Ambient
    Ambient Metal
    Americana
    Ancienthand
    Ancient Hand
    Anti-imperialist
    AOR
    Aoty
    Apocalypse
    Art Rock
    Arzou
    Atmoblack
    Atmospheric
    Atmospheric Black Metal
    Atmospheric Doom
    Avant Garde
    Avant-garde
    Avant Garde Black Metal
    Avant Garde Death Metal
    Ballad
    Band Merch
    Bane Ov Silence
    Baroque Metal
    Beaston Lane
    Beatdown
    Bestial
    Best Of The Year 2018
    Blackened
    Blackened Crust
    Blackened Death
    Blackened Deathcore
    Blackened Death Metal
    Blackened Doom
    Blackened Grind
    Blackened Metal
    Blackened Punk
    Blackened Sludge
    Blackened Thrash
    Blackgaze
    Blackie Skulless
    Black Metal
    Black N Roll
    Black Thrash
    Blastbeasts
    Blastbeats
    Blood Metal
    Blues
    Blues Metal
    Blues Rock
    Breakcore
    Breakdown
    British Metal
    Brutal
    Brutal Death Metal
    Cantina
    Captain's Chronicles
    Captains Chronicles
    Capt Graves
    Carlos
    Cavern Death Metal
    Chaotic Death Metal
    Chaotic Hardcore
    Chaotic Metal
    Chinese Metal
    Chiptune
    Christian Metal
    Classic Albums
    Classical Crossover
    Classic Doom
    Classic Metal
    Classic Rock
    Comic
    Community Favorites
    Compilation
    Continuous Thunder
    Core
    Cosmic
    Cosmic Death Metal
    Country
    Cover Songs
    Crossover
    Crossover Thrash
    Crust
    Crust Punk
    Cyberpunk
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Metal
    Dark Pop
    Dark Rock
    Dbeat
    D-beat
    Deathcore
    Death Doom
    Death-doom
    Deathgrind
    Death Metal
    Death Thrash
    Debut Album
    Demo
    Depressive Black Metal
    Desert Rock
    Digital Hardcore
    Disco
    Dissonant
    Dissonant Black Metal
    Djent
    Doom
    Doom Death
    Doomgaze
    Doom Metal
    Doom Punk
    Doomviolence
    Double Review
    Dreampop
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Dsbm
    Dungeons And Dragons
    Dungeon Synth
    Dungeon Synth Sunday
    Ecological
    Editorial
    Edm
    Electronic
    Electronic Rock
    Emo
    EP
    Epic Doom
    Epic Heavy Metal
    Epic Metal
    EP's
    Experimental
    Experimental Black Metal
    Experimental Electronic
    Extreme Metal
    Fantasy
    Favorite Music
    Finnish Metal
    Florida Death
    Folk
    Folk Black Metal
    Folk Metal
    Folk Rock
    Free Jazz
    Fresh Meat Friday
    Funeral Doom
    Fuzz
    Garage Rock
    German Heavy Metal
    Glam Metal
    Glam Rock
    Gore
    Goregrind
    Goth
    Gothic
    Gothic Metal
    Goth Metal
    Goth Rock
    Grind
    Grindcore
    Groove Metal
    Grunge
    Guest Post
    Guest Review
    Hair Metal
    Hallucinatory Black Death Metal
    Hardcore
    Hardcore Doom
    Hardcore Punk
    Hardcore Sludge
    Hard Rock
    Heavy Grinder
    Heavy Metal
    Heavy Psych
    Heavy Rock
    Hip Hip
    Hip Hop
    Horror
    Hxc
    Icelandic
    Immigrant Core
    Immigrind
    Indie
    Indie Rock
    Indonesia
    Industrial
    Industrial Metal
    Industrial Rock
    Instrumental
    Italian Metal
    Izzy
    Japanese Metal
    Jazz
    Legends
    Lichtmensch
    Lord Hsrah
    Lovecraft
    Loveloth
    Lunar Fanatic
    Mathcore
    Mathgrind
    Math Rock
    Melodeath
    Melodic Black Metal
    Melodic Death Metal
    Melodic Doom
    Melodic Metal
    Memorial
    Merch
    Metal
    Metalcore
    Metalhead World
    Metallic Hardcore
    METAL MENAGERIE
    Metal Reivews
    Metalreviews
    Metal Reviews
    Mid Year List
    Mid-year List
    Miscellaneous
    Modern Rock
    Murder Metal
    Music Review
    Music Video
    Mystic
    Negative Reviews
    Neofolk
    Nerdy
    New Age
    New Music
    Nintendocore
    Noise
    Noise Rock
    Nu Metal
    NWOBHM
    NWOTHM
    Occult
    Occult Rock
    Old School Death Metal
    OSDM
    Ozzy Osbourne
    Pagan Metal
    Peasantrys Picks
    Pirate Metal
    Pop
    Pop Metal
    Pop Punk
    Pop Rock
    Portal
    Post-black
    Post Black Metal
    Post-black Metal
    Post-classical
    Post Doom
    Post-doom
    Post-genre
    Post Hardcore
    Post-hardcore
    Post Metal
    Post-metal
    Post Punk
    Post-punk
    Post Rock
    Post-rock
    Post Sludge
    Post-sludge
    Power Electronics
    Power Metal
    Powerviolence
    Prehistoric
    Preorder
    Prog Metal
    Progressive Black Metal
    Progressive Death Metal
    Progressive Metal
    Progressive Rock
    Prog Rock
    Psychedelic
    Psych Rock
    Punk
    Punk Rock
    Raw Black Metal
    Raw Sludge
    Record Label
    Reese
    Reissue
    Relaxing
    Release Day Roundup
    Remix
    Re-recording
    Retro Rock
    Retrospective Review
    Review Off
    Review Redux
    Reviews
    Riffs
    Rock
    Rock N Roll
    Roots Rock
    Sabbath
    Sabbath Sunday
    Sadboi
    Saxophone
    Sci Fi
    Sci-fi
    Scorpi
    Screamo
    Shane Thirteen
    Shoegaze
    Short Reviews
    Singer-songwriter
    Ska
    Skramz
    Slam
    Sleeping Village Records
    Sleeping Village Sampler
    Slipknot
    Sludge
    Sludge Metal
    Soliloquist
    Solo Act
    Sound Design
    Soundtrack
    South America
    Southern Rock
    Space
    Space Rock
    Speed Metal
    Split
    Star Wars
    Statement Of Intent
    Stenchcore
    Stoner
    Stoner Doom
    Stoner Metal
    Stoner Rock
    Story Review
    Stream
    Surf Rock
    Swedeath
    Swedish Death Metal
    Symphonic Metal
    Synth
    Synth Metal
    Synthpop
    Synthwave
    Talesofdeception
    Techdeath
    Tech Death
    Technical Death Metal
    Texas
    The Administrator
    The Dungeon Awaits
    The Voiceless Apparation
    Thevoicelessapparition
    The Voiceless Apparition
    The Voiceless Appartition
    Thrash
    Thrashcore
    Thrash Metal
    Threefoldtreatise
    Tom
    Torture Doom
    Track-premiere
    Track Review
    Track Reviews
    Trad Doom
    Traditional Doom
    Traditional Metal
    Trad Metal
    Tribute Album
    True Doom
    Trve Doom
    Underground
    Usbm
    Vaporwave
    Vattghern
    Visual Review
    Volt Thrower
    War Metal
    Weird
    Zombie

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!