Venom inc – Islington academy, London – 13th March 2018

Tonight’s Venom inc gig had an early start – always a headache mid-week as it meant I wasn’t able to get there from work till after the first two bands (on a five band bill). Happily though I was in good time to see Brazilian thrash band Nervosa.

Nervosa

I’d been wanting to see Nervosa for a while, but whenever they’ve toured the UK the dates have clashed with other gigs so this was my first time seeing them. Fernanda Lira on Bass and lead vocals puts in an excellent performance and when she’s not singing, she’s moving around the stage and headbanging like crazy. On guitar, Prika Amaral is more static, rarely moving around, but like Fenanda, she’s headbanging furiously when not doing vocals. In the darkness behind them, we can just about see Luana Dametto pounding away on the drums. These three ladies really do play great thrash music, and after their set I headed to the merch stand to buy their CDs.

Suffocation

Next up were Suffocation from the USA. After the thrash of Nervosa, we get death metal from Suffocation, and it’s even louder and heavier than Nervosa. Their bass player was interesting to watch as his playing style saw him almost standing the bass on the stage as he played, all while headbanging crazily. It’s an impressive performance from the whole band, and they certainly went down well with the crowd.

Finally it was time for Venom inc, the band formed by former members of Venom. They kick things off with the excellent “Ave Satanas”, from their album “Ave” that was released last year. That’s the first of four of their own songs to be performed tonight, with the rest of the set being made up of Venom songs including four from the classic album “Black metal” – an album so influential it gave it’s name to an entire metal genre. It’s a great set from Venom inc which should really have seen the place sold out rather than less than half full.

Although I missed the first two bands, I enjoyed the three I saw, with Nervosa and Venom inc both being particularly impressive.

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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.