At a time when virtually every label (there are some notable exceptions) and even lots of bands are hollering at you to review their stuff via digital download it is nice when the occasional artist goes that extra mile to present their hard work to you in a proper fashion. Venomous Maximus not only sent a 6 track CD but also at no little cost backed it up with a lovely slab of olive green splattered vinyl sent all the way from Houston where they reside. The thing is they could easily have just sent the disc as it contains the four tracks on the record plus two more but they did indeed consider it worth sending the complete package for which they certainly get my thanks.
Of course this would all be a complete waste of time if the group’s music sucked so I have to admit I was slightly nervous about giving it a spin and was very pleased that it quickly had me in no doubt that sucking was something these Texans didn’t do musically in the slightest. This is metal with a rocking flair and a deep stoned groove. The band describe themselves as “falling somewhere between a Alejandro Jodorowsky film and a New Orleans voodoo den” and with these psychedelic, head-stewing, multi hued numbers that’s a very apt description.
A nice organic sounding mix deeply resounds as we fall balls deep into ‘The Mission.’ The song is doom laden but heavily rocking with a biker kick to it, born wild and fighting hard. You can easily name plenty of bands that Venomous Maximus sound like and go from everything to the Southern groove of Skynyrd through to the heavy riffing of bands like High On Fire and vocally Gregg Higgins has a bit of Phil Lynott about his delivery so it’s all good! ‘The Rider’ chugs in with some great spiralling guitar lines running through it and this lot must deliver the goods live. It seems like they have played with all their contemporaries in the past and I bet they have given a few of them a run for their money. The six tracks show a band that don’t let up and are happy to keep on rocking without a break in the tempo.
I particularly like ‘Give Up The Witch’ with its rousing peasants up for a burning chorus. Every band like this should have a song like this and it could well be their ‘Witchfinder General’ in the future. Finishing off with another classic sounding number in every sense of the word, a tribute to ‘The Living Dead’ these boys have delivered a great half hour of music which has the scope to raise any comatose zombie from the grave. All I can say is that I will be waiting in hope that they ‘El Topo’ it at some point with a full length album.
http://www.myspace.com/venomousmaximus
Pete Woods
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