VENTENNER - ALBUM REVIEW

Ventenner - Distorture (Sonic Fire Records) 
Ventenner - Distorture

Are you ready for some dark, oil covered rock with an industrial tint and some seriously heavy boots? Ah go on, you know you want to. It'll be fun, I promise. Quartet Ventenner have a whole new album for your enjoyment and it all kicks off with 'Rise', a song that is somewhere between Depeche Mode and Tool as well as possibly being the darkest start to an album I've heard in a very long time. 'Six Blood' is up next, continuing the doomy theme with some industrial rhythms and desperate, almost tortured vocals before 'Wave' swaggers in to the room in slow motion looking like an extra from the Matrix as imagined by Tarantino in one of his darker moods. The drums that herald 'Unaffected' are of Viking origins but the song itself is more like Nirvana or System Of A Down at its heart.

Let's face it, this is not music that's ever going to trouble the Top 40 or get covered on the X Factor by a 17 year old boy with acne and a sob story. What this is going to do, however, is allow you explore all those dark places in your mind and your soul that you don't have time to recognise while you're queuing to pay for your cheese sandwich in Tesco. Album title track 'Distorture' is up next, all Black Rebel Motorcycle Club riffs and atmosphere before 'Skin Ritual' begins like the Cooper Temple Clause with a darker heart and retains a malevolent heart throughout. 'Begin Again' is the soundtrack to the sunrise on the day of a battle to save planet earth while 'Metacell' is a full on, diesel fuellled, snarling beast of a song that will chew you up and spit you out before you have time to form an opinion on it. The industrial swirl and churn of 'Fallout' is the stuff of dark rock fantasies and just makes me want walk everywhere in entirely black clothing with a look that says "I enjoy chaos" on my face. I also want to wear an eye patch. Don't judge me.

As album's go this is an absolutely huge slab of rock in every sense of the word and I like what I see chiselled in to its weather worn face. The final section begins with 'Cast', a track that is more about atmosphere than it is about a song and could easily feature on the soundtrack to a bloodily violent computer game. 'Undone' has a funereal tone to it while 'Shade' builds in to a window shattering, ear bleeding climax. Final track 'House Of Ten' is what's left when all the good in the world has been destroyed and the devil is left playing Jenga with Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan. So go on, indulge your dark side and let this album seep in to your soul while you're sleeping. You might just like it..you might just love it.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/Ventenner?fref=ts


Watch the video for 'Six Blood': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXnVoLFuktQ 

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