THIS WEEK I’M LISTENING TO...VENOM – Into Oblivion (Noise / BMG)

Often imitated, never bettered, the original Geordie noisemongers are still going strong, albeit with just one original member in bassist / vocalist Cronos. And with fellow founding members Abaddon and Mantas working together, and Tony Dolan still helming the middle-era band Venom Inc, the interesting thing is that it’s this version of Venom – particularly here on ‘Into Oblivion’ – that sounds the least ‘Venom’ and perhaps more developed of them all. ‘Into Oblivion’ is an energetic and hard-edged album, sounding more like, say prime-time Metal Church than those early cherished but undeniably chaotic releases that set the original three-piece on their path to fame and glory. This is an album that knows it’s cruising at the right altitude – or maybe that should be ‘attitude’ – and in cuts like the brutal, anthemic ‘Man & Beast’, the ethereal ‘Unholy Mother’ and the title track in particular Cronos, ably backed by guitarist Rage and drummer Dante, has projected the band well and truly into the hear-and-now. The songs are powerful, and by keeping them generally short and snappy (only a pair of the 13 break the four-minute mark, although the longest – ‘As Above, So Below’ – is worth handing over the cash for alone) the album races by like a veritable hound of hell. Of course, Cronos’s distinctive vocals and phrasing are an immediate throwback to those early Neat offerings, and in the lyrics of ‘Lay Down Your Soul’ there’s an obvious nod to the past, but it’s an album which could surprise even the most die-hard Venom detractor. It’s not groundbreaking, admittedly, but it is exceptionally good.

Video clip (static) – ‘Into Oblivion’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_4GQuSsEmk

John Tucker May 2026