Cronos
Venom
[Neat]
A compilation, combining songs from the first two Cronos albums, a few
teasers from the ill-fated third Cronos album (which to my knowledge never
happened - does anyone know different?), and finally the band dealing with
the band's history - that is, they finally went back and recorded some
Venom covers. If you've never heard Cronos before, this would be a good
place to start.
The album features three original songs from each of the first two albums, all fairly representative of those albums as a whole - that is to say, the songs are sort-of thrashy/powerish metal with a bit of pop sensibility, but in a good way, with streamlined riffs/songs and good vocal melodies and hooky choruses. Extra kudos to the compilers for including my personal favorite Cronos song, "Messages of War". The album also features three songs from what would've been the third Cronos album, Triumvirate. These feature a more stripped-down production and band lineup - Jim Clare left the band, leaving all the guitar duties to Mike Hickey, while drummer Chris Patterson was replaced by Mark Wharton (ex-Cathedral). These songs ("Babylon", "Ye of Little Faith", "Know Evil") are a good deal darker and heavier than the typical Cronos fare - getting back into the Venom vibe, but with more mature song writing (in retrospect, not too distant from what Venom ended up doing on "Cast in Stone").
But it's the last group of eight songs that most of you are wondering about - the Venom covers. I respect Conrad and Co. from holding off on rehashing the Venom back catalog for so long (unlike 'Venom', whose constant butchering of the old classics makes you wonder why they even bothered writing 'original' music...), and then I respect them more for realizing that Venom released more than just "Welcome to Hell" and "Black Metal". The covered songs are "In League With Satan", "Fire", "1000 Days in Sodom", "Seven Gates of Hell", "Don't Burn the Witch/In Nomine Satanas", "Satanachist", and "At War With Satan" (abridged) - all but the last being new recordings with the new lineup (AWWS being lifted from the first Cronos album). Whereas 'Venom' sped things up to hell, turning the classics into Eurothrash-messes, Cronos does a good job of keeping the original feel of the songs fairly intact, despite the raw-but-too-clean production. (He steps outside once, though, turning "In League..." into an ultra-slow, crushingly heavy doom-death type affair, which is almost more evil than a straight cover would have been.)
Overall, if you're a Venom fan who's curious about Cronos (the band), this is the best place to start, as you get a smattering of all their material plus some Venom covers to ease you in; and if you have Cronos' other albums already, this is still worth it because you've got over half a CD worth of otherwise-unreleased material.
© 1999 lord vic
The album features three original songs from each of the first two albums, all fairly representative of those albums as a whole - that is to say, the songs are sort-of thrashy/powerish metal with a bit of pop sensibility, but in a good way, with streamlined riffs/songs and good vocal melodies and hooky choruses. Extra kudos to the compilers for including my personal favorite Cronos song, "Messages of War". The album also features three songs from what would've been the third Cronos album, Triumvirate. These feature a more stripped-down production and band lineup - Jim Clare left the band, leaving all the guitar duties to Mike Hickey, while drummer Chris Patterson was replaced by Mark Wharton (ex-Cathedral). These songs ("Babylon", "Ye of Little Faith", "Know Evil") are a good deal darker and heavier than the typical Cronos fare - getting back into the Venom vibe, but with more mature song writing (in retrospect, not too distant from what Venom ended up doing on "Cast in Stone").
But it's the last group of eight songs that most of you are wondering about - the Venom covers. I respect Conrad and Co. from holding off on rehashing the Venom back catalog for so long (unlike 'Venom', whose constant butchering of the old classics makes you wonder why they even bothered writing 'original' music...), and then I respect them more for realizing that Venom released more than just "Welcome to Hell" and "Black Metal". The covered songs are "In League With Satan", "Fire", "1000 Days in Sodom", "Seven Gates of Hell", "Don't Burn the Witch/In Nomine Satanas", "Satanachist", and "At War With Satan" (abridged) - all but the last being new recordings with the new lineup (AWWS being lifted from the first Cronos album). Whereas 'Venom' sped things up to hell, turning the classics into Eurothrash-messes, Cronos does a good job of keeping the original feel of the songs fairly intact, despite the raw-but-too-clean production. (He steps outside once, though, turning "In League..." into an ultra-slow, crushingly heavy doom-death type affair, which is almost more evil than a straight cover would have been.)
Overall, if you're a Venom fan who's curious about Cronos (the band), this is the best place to start, as you get a smattering of all their material plus some Venom covers to ease you in; and if you have Cronos' other albums already, this is still worth it because you've got over half a CD worth of otherwise-unreleased material.
© 1999 lord vic