Really Fast Finds - Korn, Venom 2015 releases

Dialectic Tears After Dawn

KORN

This just dropped on my desk. At first we thought this was the super secret new release Korn's been working in closed door sessions at some secluded studio. Supposedly it will be much more like their earlier work....ok, so this isn't that record...not bad news though.

This is a record for anyone who may not have bought the various soundtracks they've appeared on or special edition Korn albums with bonus material. Most of it is "B" side material either featured on a video game, left off a soundtrack or included as a special single with one of their later albums. I'm much more pleased with the material on this cd than the tracks on the greatest hits. This has much more offer to fans who already have the first four albums. Their covers of Radiohead's "Creep" and "Kidnap The Sandy Claws" are guilty pleasures that fit on this mixed bag of hidden gems. Yes, "Daddy" and "Shoots and Ladders(feat. Dust Brothers)"are on this too but why not, they are staple Korn songs that deserve a relisten.

Dialectic Tears After Dawn is a primer for what I expect their next record will sound like. Their last release, The Paradigm Shift, was an album that grew on me after several listens. It's as close to their earlier work than anything they put out in the past ten years before. It was a big step in the right direction and with a staff of sober musicians, the next one will likely make a believer of some of the folks that dropped off years back.

Frey om The Very Depths

Venom

How many genre defining Heavy Metal bands are still around? Sure Venom isn't really the Venom that created "Black Metal". 

I noted that my initial response to the album is that it's as good as you can expect from a band that's been around so damn long. Seriously we've seen how most metal acts age and it's really not pretty. Not to say Venom was very pretty from the beginning. 

The album's production is almost too good for Venom. So many bands these days rip off the "Black Metal"era Venom sound that my expectations were very low for Venom to even try to produce something that sounds pleasing. Who do they have to impress anyway?

Instead we get something much closer to Motorhead than Venom. Groove. Freaking Groove.

Most of the album veers from the classic evil cave dweller sound of old Venom but stays true to it's pro Satan driven lyrics. Some of it is cliche while some of it just straight up blasphemy.

The whole album is that way. Nothing really stands out to me. It's all just very much what you can expect from a band that no longer has to try to be anything but a band playing music they enjoy.