You like skate-Punk? Why not give Venerea's new album a new listen
Punk rock veterans, Venerea, are a band who've been whoring the Swedish music scene for well over 15 years. Adopting that infamous So-Cal skate punk sound and making it their own, they sound similar to bands such as Bad Religion, Belvedere and NOFX. Venerea's latest full length promises what it says on the tin, 'One Louder'. There's nothing mellow about this album, aggressive skate punk is what keeps the listener awake and retains their interest for the whole 36 minutes.
The band is renowned for their humorous album titles such as 'The Second Cuming of Venereal Disease' and 'Both Ends Burning' but with their 2005 release, it would seem the band have toned down on the tongue-in-cheek humour and matured in their song writing.
This album is not really a CD of one musical attitude; the band hit political issues in songs such as 'Guantanamo' and touches on the typical teenage blues in 'Small Town Romance.' If you're a fan of any sort of skate punk, you'll certainly enjoy Venerea to some extent.
The quartet hold a very powerful atmosphere on this CD, The sound is jam packed with bass lines and guitar riffs. Such a sound is rarely achieved in a band of four members and is usually found in bigger groups such as Bad Religion who have an additional 2 members in comparison to Venerea.
The album begins with 'Calling Card' that sounds remotely similar to a Strike Anywhere song. The way in which the drums kick in and the way in which the song is structured seems so sincere like the aforementioned band, it's not an unrealistic comparison to make. But in no way does this opening song reflect the remainder of the album. In some parts of 'One Louder', we are treated to more listener-friendly songs like 'St. Christopher' where it becomes more apparent that singer Mikael Persson is imitating an American accent to woo the Fat-Wreck die-hards, something that has surprisingly been well accepted by English and American fans. Bands such as Millencolin and Useless ID are also guilty of singing in English and achieve great success internationally by doing so.
Overall this CD is indeed a very entertaining release, an energetic album that will no doubt be overlooked by the average skate punk fan solely on the reason that it's been put out on an unrecognised label.