{"id":28413,"date":"2026-04-30T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=28413"},"modified":"2026-04-29T16:16:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:16:25","slug":"venom-into-oblivion-noise-bmg-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=28413","title":{"rendered":"Venom \u2013 \u2018Into Oblivion\u2019 (Noise\/BMG Records)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Horns up who was at Venom\u2019s legendary Seventh Date of Hell gig at Hammersmith Odeon on June 1st<\/sup> 1984?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was, and if you were as lucky as I was to be in attendance, you don\u2019t really need me to tell you how important a band Venom were back in the day. I mean, back then, \u2018Black Metal\u2019 was all about one band and a word-of-mouth buzz between metal fans who liked their music sounding like it was spewing from the very depths of hell. It most certainly wasn\u2019t the worldwide musical tour de force that it is today, one that even has its own sub-genres, and even managed to pop up as a topic for discussion on a celebrity travel show on TLC earlier this month (the Norwegian episode of Zero Stars in case you are wondering, starring Sarah Pascoe and Roisin Conaty).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s how influential Venom\u2019s music was, and some might say still is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those heady and chaotic days of the classic \u2018Black Metal\u2019 line up are of course long since gone, but here I am in 2026 about to indulge myself in the band\u2019s sixteenth studio record, \u2018Into Oblivion\u2019, featuring founding bassist\/vocalist Cronos alongside Rage on guitar and Dante drums, this incarnation\u2019s first new music since 2018\u2019s \u2018Storm The Gates\u2019, promising to be their most \u201cprogressive\u201d music to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, let’s wind my neck in a second, this doesn\u2019t mean that Venom have suddenly decided to go all Gryphon on us, and Cronos has dropped his bleeding cruciform bass for a crumhorn. No, what it means is that whilst the band recognises things from back in the day, they are looking to bring their new tunes into a whole new setting that gives their sound a whole fresh approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I need look no further than the album\u2019s opener and title track, \u2018Into Oblivion\u2019, to hear exactly what they mean by this. There\u2019s a near power metal melodic guitar intro to the track before the double bass drums thunder out of the speakers, and Cronos bellows perhaps one of his most gutturally melodic vocal performances since the band\u2019s \u2018Calm Before The Storm\u2019 days. By contrast, \u2018Lay Down Your Soul\u2019, which follows (and was the LP\u2019s first single), is more pure old school Venom, packed full of lyrical nods to the band\u2019s history and that gig I mentioned at the top of this review. This track will immediately have the Venom Legions worldwide windmilling like lunatics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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