Swiss black metal pioneers SAMAEL are back and will re-release their legendary albums Lux Mundi and Solar Soul on 19th of April, via Napalm Records.
SAMAEL awakened on the 14th of July 1988 when brothers Xytraguptor and Vorphalack loaded their musical gear into an atomic bunker. Almost 20 years after that day the band experienced a rebirth with the release of Solar Soul (2007). The album, co-produced by longtime producer Waldemar Sorychta and mixed by Stefan Glaumann (Rammstein, Within Temptation…) is now fully remastered and will be released with the addition of 9 bonus tracks (2 remixes, 6 instrumental songs, 1x live track).
After resurrecting black metal in the early ’90’s with their debut album Worship Him, introducing symphonic metal in 1994 with Ceremony of Opposites and pionieering industrial metal with Passage in 1996 ; SAMAEL released Lvx Mvndi in 2011, a record that built a bridge over the 20+ years of the band’s history by melting all sides and personalities of the band into a masterpiece. Now the album has been remixed from stems, remastered and will be released with the addition of 7 bonus tracks.
Heavy as heavy can be – watch below the brand new lyric video for “Ave”
Vorph on “Ave!”: “ It’s a titanic and monolithic song that always leave the audience mesmerized by its crushing power when we play it live. But I let you judge by yourself if you’re not yet familiar with that song… “
SAMAEL are widely known for their Industrial Black Metal armed with wind sections passing through shivering synthesizers. On point and frighteningly brutal, fiery whirlwinds of hypnotic hammering riff forces overlay gruesomely gurgling vocals driving you over the edge.
Jimmy Kay from Canada The Metal Voice recently spoke to Tony Dolan (The Demolition Man) and Jeff Dunn (Mantas) from VENOM INC. whose new Album “Avé” will be released on Nuclear Blast on Aug 14 2017.
Watch the interview here
In the broadcast Mantas and The Demolition man go through all the tracks off their new album Ave and talk about the lyrical themes and music. Mantas also announces that we will be releasing an autobiography in the near future. As well the two spoke about the Venom past the quick rise to fame and how Tony Dolan joined the band.
When asked about their continuous fascination with Satan and the Dark side of music (5:11)
“We had an interest in the dark side. It was a shock horror thing. We looked at bands like Black Sabbath and others that sang about the devil but it wasn’t stuffed in people faces. So we thought we would just develop a pure shock value. We were going to stuff it in people’s face and if they ran away screaming then great and if they embraced it then great that was the whole premise. It was three young guys who wanted to shock the world. It wasn’t something new we just took it a step further. We also had songs with other topics, Teachers Pet, Poison we had songs about serial killers. It was all about the dark side of things or life.” Mantas
When asked about how the album At War with Satan was inspired by Rush 2112 (17:00)
“I was a huge Rush fan and so was Conrad. It was mainly Conrad’s body of work and I contributed to it. It’s no secret, it’s just a personnel opinion. I spoke to fans about this before. The Albums At war with Satan and Possessed I have never been a big fan of those two albums.” Mantas
When asked Mantas why he lost interest in the band in the early years. (19:53)
“If i have to be brutally honest for me it was after Black Metal album. You have to remember the speed of the success of Venom wasn’t gradual, it was overnight, zero to hero in a matter of a week. It was the right place at the right time. The stars aligned everybody was ready for something different and we came along.There was one weekend we were rehearing in this run down place, the following weekend we were in Belgium playing in front of 3000 people. And I think that contributed to the change in personalities as well. When the success of Venom really hit big the personalities changed in certain members and it was unbelievable and that is what I couldn’t deal with.” Mantas
When asked if the new album Ave of it’s is a continuation of the Dolan era albums (39:35)
Ave is it’s own beast, it’s not a first album, it’s not a follow up album, it’s us, it’s what we do. I think it fits perfectly in the Venom legacy. I think Ave stands more in the Venom legacy than the albums Possessed and Cast in Stone- Mantas
When asked about the theme of album cover artwork on the new album Ave (42:00)
There is Lucifer on the cover of the album clearly walking towards you in a very passive way on a desolate landscape, you can see Adam and Eve eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. It’s about looking for that inner self. The cover could be, is it Armageddon or is it the beginning? Not only can he fly but he is Lucifer and he can do damage if he wants to but he is quiet passive walking toward you. Is he signaling the end or is he signaling the beginning and your suppose to answer that question. He was an angel banished, what his duty was feed man knowledge and look after him because he questioned the god he was cast down to walk eternity on earth. ” Dolan
When asked about Mantas’ autobiography ( 52:00)
“What I am doing with the book is I am talking it from the day I was born to what we are doing now. Everything I have ever done . Also their will be a lot of photographs that have never been seen before.” Mantas
When asked about the Venom inc Documentary in the works (1:40:00)
What we have been doing is taking snap shots of us traveling up until now and we also did a lot of stuff talking about the new album, the journey of that and continue on this world tour. Then hopefully put it on DVD box set together with some old stuff, unseen stuff, the backstage stuff, the making of the videos and it will be something really interesting.” Dolan
Black metal originators VENOM INC. will release their upcoming full-length album, “Avé”, out August 11, 2017 via Nuclear Blast. Today, you can watch the fourth instalment of the band’s one-on-one video interview series describing behind-the-scenes details on “Avé”. This video discusses the album’s recording process. Watch here:
Regardless of your take on black metal forefathers VENOM, they are the undisputed originators of extreme metal as we know it. Almost 40 years after their inception, the revitalized 1989-1992 line-up of guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn, vocalist/bassist Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan and drummer Anthony “Abaddon” Bray have returned with a monster of an album.
Going in to writing »Avé«, VENOM INC. realized their live performance was the key to creating an album that would be a metal classic. It was clear that any songs the trio came up with had to have the intensity, the honesty and the aggression that was happening for VENOM INC. in a live situation. Simply put, they needed to translate what they do on stage onto a record. Not once did they look back on the VENOM catalogue and think, “We have to write another ‘Black Metal’ or another ‘Schizo’…” The focus is on VENOM INC. and everything the rejuvenated three-piece do in the here and now.
While unexpected at the outset, the end result of this reunion is an album that true VENOM fans will gladly add to the top of their playlists.
Black metal originators VENOM INC. will unleash their upcoming full-length opus, “Avé”, out August 11, 2017 via Nuclear Blast. After setting the metal world ablaze with their latest music video for ‘Dein Fleisch’, the band is following up with a second new track from »Avé« – the sinister crusher ‘Avé Satanas’. Listen here:
VENOM INC.’s Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan says: “This is the salute to you all… from our dark hearts to your good black souls… the earth is ours and Lucifer walks with us. We hail our master, we hail our Lord! We present ourselves to you… AVE SATANAS! Welcome to hell you sons (and daughters) of SATAN!”
While browsing, check out two new one-on-one VENOM INC. video interviews released via Nuclear Blast, detailing exclusive, behind-the-scenes details about »Avé« and the return of the band:
Regardless of your take on black metal forefathers VENOM, they are the undisputed originators of extreme metal as we know it. Almost 40 years after their inception, the revitalized 1989-1992 line-up of guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn, vocalist/bassist Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan and drummer Anthony “Abaddon” Bray have returned with a monster of an album.
After months of anticipation, VENOM INC. will release their upcoming full-length opus, entitled “Avé”, on August 11, 2017 via Nuclear Blast. Pre-orders for the new album are available now here.
The first single from “Avé”, entitled ‘Dein Fleisch’, can be streamed now:
Pre-order “Avé” digitally to receive ‘Dein Fleisch’ instantly or stream the track here.
VENOM INC. was born during an impromptu live set at 2015’s Keep it True Festival in Lauda-Königshofen, Germany. The on-stage reunion was a rousing success amongst VENOM fans and music industry personnel alike, and although it was originally only set up for fun, Dolan began receiving numerous show offers for VENOM INC. from booking agents around the world. What started as a live set to celebrate VENOM‘s legacy immediately turned into a serious reunion discussion. The rest is history.
While unexpected at the outset, the end result of this reunion is an album that true VENOM fans will gladly add to the top of their playlists. Vocalist/bassist Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan says, “We tried to shape »Avé« so that it comes at you dark, then it gets bright and heavy and just keeps growing into some kind of monster.”
“Avé” – Track Listing:
01. Ave Satanas
02. Forged In Hell
03. Metal We Bleed
04. Dein Fleisch
05. Blood Stained
06. Time To Die
07. The Evil Dead
08. Preacher Man
09. War
10. I Kneel To No God
11. Black N Roll
Going in to writing “Avé”, VENOM INC. realized their live performance was the key to creating an album that would be a metal classic. It was clear that any songs the trio came up with had to have the intensity, the honesty and the aggression that was happening for VENOM INC. in a live situation. Simply put, they needed to translate what they do on stage onto a record. Not once did they look back on the VENOM catalogue and think, “We have to write another ‘Black Metal’ or another ‘Schizo’…” The focus is on VENOM INC. and everything the rejuvenated three-piece do in the here and now.
Dolan adds, “Expect 100% pure, honest, solid, hard, dark, thought-provoking metal… like it was, is and forever shall be. Classic old-school, but with the ferocity and energy that we display in our live show. We are proud of this album and our new home at Nuclear Blast, as well as our whole team – management, PR, agents, sponsors and most of all, YOU. Thank you! See you somewhere on this Blood Stained Earth!”
VENOM INC. will kick off their upcoming “Blood Stained Earth” headline tour, featuring support from GOATWHORE, TOXIC HOLOCAUST and THE CONVALESCENCE, on September 1. Exclusive VENOM INC.meet & greet packages are available with limited availability – for details please visit: http://bit.ly/VenomIncVIP
In addition to the tour, VENOM INC. are set to perform dates in Europe throughout 2017, including stops at Metaldays, Heavy Metal Cauldron and others. The band will perform classic VENOM sets and new tracks. See below for all current performance dates:
Summer Dates:
24.07. SLO Tolmin – Metaldays
29.07. I Thiesi – Località Su Padru
05.08. F Saint-Maurice-De-Gourdans – Sylak Open Air
“Blood Stained Earth Tour 2017”
w/ GOATWHORE, TOXIC HOLOCAUST, THE CONVALESCENCE
01.09. USA Philadelphia, PA – Voltage
02.09. USA New York, NY – Gramercy Theater
03.09. USA Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
04.09. CDN Montreal, QC – Les Foufounes Electriques
05.09. CDN Toronto, ON – Mod Club
06.09. USA Detroit, MI – Harpos NEW!
07.09. USA Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballrom
08.09. USA Chicago, IL – Reggies
09.09. USA Cave in Rock, IL – Full Terror Metal Fest
10.09. USA Kansas City, MO – Riot Room
11.09. USA Denver, CO – Marquis Theater
13.09. USA Spokane, WA – The Pin
14.09. USA Seattle, WA – Studio 7
15.09. CDN Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater
16.09. USA Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater
18.09. USA San Francisco, CA – Slims
19.09. USA Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy Theatre
20.09. USA San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick
21.09. USA Phoenix, AZ – Club Red
22.09. USA El Paso, TX – Tricky Falls
23.09. USA Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey
24.09. USA Austin, TX – Grizzly Hall
25.09. USA Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
26.09. USA New Orleans, LA – Parish at HOB
28.09. USA Miami, FL – Churchill’s
29.09. USA Tampa, FL – Orpheum
30.09. USA Orlando, FL – The Haven
01.10. USA Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
02.10. USA Baltimore, MD – Soundstage
03.10. USA Special VENOM INC Bash
04.10. USA Special VENOM INC Bash
Autumn Dates:
27.10. FIN Helsinki – Heavy Metal Cauldron
VENOM INC. is: Jeff “Mantas” Dunn | guitars Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan | bass, vocals Anthony “Abaddon” Bray | drums
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 