Before I even hit play on Venustra’s new single, “Praise The Lord and Pass My Medication”, I was hit by the title of the song and the imagery of the band photos. Title wise as a teacher I have seen how heavy or improper medication has turned students into zombies and sucked out their creative souls in an attempt to make them sit quietly in neat rows. Throw in the religious context of my time teaching at a Catholic school despite being an agnostic, and I am ready to hear the music that matches this song title.
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But before I hit play, I did see their theatrical garb and face paint. I’m on the older side of life, so my first thoughts are shock rock bands like Alice Cooper or even Gwar, though I’m sure slightly younger people might think of Slipknot (I’ve seen plenty of their pics, but I’ve never listened to them–while I saw the former two bands more than once in life).
Is the term circuscore a thing yet? Theatercore? Shockcore? Pyschocore? hmmm. Not sure any of those fits because it sounds too lighthearted, and this is not that. This is some brutal as fuck metal with super dope horror inspired theatrical parts that lift the music to the upper reaches of insanity. Listening to this make me think how fitting this song would be on House of 1,000 Corpses.
The music kicks in with all instruments locked in to the tune of fuck and then the vocals come in with this sick ass vocal riff that sounds like what I’d imagine a demonic wolverine would make as it jumps to eviscerate your throat. The vocals throughout are mostly on the gruff brutal side, but still clear enough that I can catch almost every lyric without a lyric sheet with a little more cleaner and catchy at the chorus. Really fucking well done.
Are those the voices of young children chanting? Nothing is creepier than children singing in a group. Might even be cheerleaders? But what are they chanting? Fucking A! I figured it out: alprazolam! That crazy fucking psychotropic. Makes me think of the Faith No More song, “Be More Aggressive”, but darker.
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Where a traditional band would have a blazing guitar solo there is some other rad as fuck effect on the guitar that fits the tone of the song perfect.
Love the killer bass solo past the two and a half minute mark.
Oh, and I fucking dig the lyric video too. It’s a solid mix of images and text that when coupled with the music service up a great multimodal narrative. I could see myself watching this several times and getting something new out of it each time as I make different nonlinear connections between the three components.
WATCH VENUSTRA’S LYRIC VIDEO ON YOUTUBE NOW!
This is my first exposure to Venustra and what a fucking banger it is. I’ll be checking out the rest of their shit soon.
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#Venustra Release Dark Thriller “Praise The Lord and Pass My Medication”
Stream on Spotify NOW! https://t.co/HkZl8ack2H#LessThan1000Followers #AlterindieStateOfMind #UnknownButEssentials #SickestandDopest #HotStuffMetal @DcxpcL pic.twitter.com/S4idUY67lP
— Jpgchief (@Jpgchief) February 12, 2024
Don’t forget to support and follow Venustra on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, SoundCloud, Youtube, Apple Music, and Spotify. You can also visit their official website. If you enjoy their music and can provide monetary support, you might consider downloading it on Bandcamp; for virtual concerts, you can go to songkick “Live from their sofa to yours”.
It also helps to stream and share h music; you can find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Alterindie State Of Mind, Sickest & Dopest, Hot Stuff Metal, and Unknown but Essentials!
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