Venues – Solace
Release Date: 27th August 2021
Label: Arising Empire
Pre-Order/Stream
Genre: Alternative Metal, Post-Hardcore.
FFO: Annisokay, Dream State, Amaranthe, Conquer Divide, Imminence.
Review By: Ryan Shearer
There must be something in the water across in mainland Europe; perhaps it’s in the bread coating of schnitzel or the seasoning in Sauerkraut but something special happens in France & Germany to make music hit differently. Australia is the same but I’m pretty sure their skill comes from spider bites & snake venom; to that I say a firm ‘no thank you’. The newest metal product of Germany outside of the new BMW 4 Series is Venues including new vocalist Lela. Christoph Wieczorek (of Annisokay fame) helped produce the bands second album Solace through Arising Empire, a label absolutely killing it when scouting new talent.
Solace promises to deliver “Melody and punch-drunk heaviness, metal and alternative rock, barbed choruses and unleashed creativity”. Album opener Razorblade Teeth and Whydah Gally tread the line of mainstream sentiments and hooks with the aggressive drum tones and coarse screams to strafe heaviness and accessibility. Rite of Passage, the first single, pulls influences from symphonic metal to create an anthem filled with energy. It’s certainly more metal than alternative rock, but generally speaking, Solace tends to deliver on Venues’ promise.
Into The Fire’s main riff is an unexpectedly melo-death sounding midway point in Solace. It’s grandiose and slightly more stripped back than the preceding half of the album. Contrary to what the band wanted to achieve (strip back on the pop sensibilities and double-down on the heavy) it started to feel very pop metal, and this shift benefits the album’s flow. Down Below turns up the tempo with some rapid-fire fret work by Constantin & Valentin (not a fan of the letter ‘E’, those pair) and intricate footwork by drummer Dennis.
Solace clearly benefits from Christoph Wieczorek’s production skills, but there is a definite spill-over from his own work onto the Venues sound. The ambient effects and post processing on some of the vocals and guitars feel very Annisokay, but the band do just enough throughout Solace to expose their unique identity. The blast beats in Deceptive Faces and the staccato electronics in Shifting Colors do feel like they imprinted their unique design on the compositional blueprint.
Solace rewards you as you listen more. The songs are rich and heavily detailed; each listen you pick up on something you missed before and it adds another weave into the tapestry of Venues’ second album. They’ve delivered on Solace an album filled with catchy choruses, memorable hooks and interesting riffs, and balanced the ‘pop’ sound with heavier aspects well. The style is sure to ruffle a few feathers in the fedoras of metal elitists, but that’s surely a good sign these days. Venues have delivered a fun, relatively fresh album that gives enough on the first listen to warrant another spin.
(4 / 5)
