Viva la venus – Bleeding on the edge of happiness

Viva La Venus are a female fronted rock band from North Carolina.  The band was founded by Vocalists/Guitarists Wendy Brancaccio and Susan Darney.  Their debut album, “The never ending mending story” was released in 2001 , and in 2005 they released their second album, “Forget the fairy tale”.  Now in 2012 their third album (Bleeding on the edge of happiness) is finally here.
Impressively they have had television appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the North Carolina band TV showcase, Barchords. Their music has been featured on national TV shows including Lifetime Network’s Strong Medicine and in the film, The Forever Dead.

Musically the band fall into the rock category – it’s good straightforward rock music.  The songs are well written with plenty of variety and the vocals work well with the music. The vocals are very good in fact.  It’s not a particulary heavy album but its certainly heavy enough to be well into the rock category.

For me the production seems fairly poor – I’m sure that with better mixing and production the album could pack a much bigger punch and sound a lot more impressive, and that’s the biggest problem with this release for me, and it really does spoil it as you’re constantly thinking about the bits that don’t sound right and overlooking the bits that are good about it.

A good album with potential to sound much better.

Rating 6/10

“Bleeding on the edge of happiness” is out now on Shiny Pants records.

Track listing:

1. Little voice
2. Intoxicating
3. Hesitate
4. Hole
5. Glimpse of heaven
6. Burn
7. Wayside
8. Grave
9. Venus calling
10. Leave
11. Wait for you

About Ant May

I spend half my life at gigs or festivals and the other half writing the reviews and editing photos, and somehow find time for a full time job too. Who needs sleep - I've got coffee.