Venomous Concept

Featuring the jaw-droppingly cool line-up of Kevin Sharp on vocals (ex-Brutal Truth), Buzz Osbourne on guitar (Fantômas/Melvins), and Napalm Death folks Shane Embury and Danny Herrera on bass and drums respectively, Venomous Concept had brilliance written all over it. Ultimately, it falls a bit short of that however, being more of a fun, jam-room one-off project. With the concept coming from the inspiration of Poison Idea in a big way (compare the names), these 16 short tunes are filled with simplistic punk riffs (annoyingly so, at times), speedy drumming and one of the best damn bass tones to be recorded in years. And Sharp proves that he’s still one of metal’s most interesting, versatile and, well, venomous singers here; growling, screaming and bellowing in his patented style, which is a bit lower register and raw sounding on this disc than previous outings. All told though, this is more of a fun thing to pull out on rare occasions, not the enveloping listen it could have been, given the pedigree involved. But that’s just the point, and the energy and passion these guys are playing with oozes out of every one of the 27 minutes of Retroactive Abortion.