Venom Prison: The Calm Before The Storm
“Our last show was Damnation Festival in 2019 so this has been the longest I’ve gone without playing a show!” The words from VENOM PRISON guitarist Ben Thomas are sadly not an isolated case. Akin to every touring creative worldwide, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last March was utterly catastrophic for those who make their way in this world on the road. With borders shut and lockdowns enforced, the life as a touring musician was placed in agonising limbo. Flash-forward to the here and now though, and things are a lot more positive. Granted, there is still the uncertainty of winter, but live shows are back with a bang and for bands aplenty of shaking off the cobwebs and hitting the stage once more.
We’re talking to Ben before they take to the stage at the much celebrated return of Bloodstock Festival; the first metal event held on UK shores to return unshackled from the various COVID-19 restrictions. For plenty of bands performing across the festival, Bloodstock marked their first show back since the great pause. Such is the case with VENOM PRISON and Ben explains to us that although there are, rightfully, nerves in the camp, there’s been enough planning to make their return something memorable.
“I feel like I’m sleepwalking into it really, I don’t think we’re nervous as such, I think we’re excited. I think it’s a bit overwhelming, I’m just taking it all in,” he explains. “We definitely took time planning it out, we kind of plotted out what songs we were going to do. We changed it up quite a few times but we’ve made it a set. It’s not just like we’re playing some songs, we’ve thought about how they link up together, how the energy transfers. I’ve scored out music to go in between songs so it almost feels like a soundtrack to a set if you know what I mean? It’s all one experience. We thought about the lighting very carefully and we have got pyro! Hopefully we don’t shit a brick when that thing first goes off, it’s a first for all of us.”
In essence, it’s nice hearing about the well-thought out approach VENOM PRISON took to ensure their return to the stage has the maximum impact. And that it did. Pyro erupts constantly and the band’s blend of death metal-meets-hardcore goes down a storm in what is one of the standout performances of the weekend. If anything, the band’s performance at Bloodstock is a reminder that the band are very much alive and kicking. In the before times, when lockdowns and social distancing were simply the words of dystopian fiction, VENOM PRISON were on track to becoming one of metal’s biggest names. After bulldozing onto the scene with 2017’s Animus and 2019’s Samsara cementing their status, the excitement towards the band was at fever pitch. Looking back, Ben explains that revisiting Samsara has been an emotional experience.
“It was kind of weird listening back to those songs to re-learn them and rehearse to play today [Bloodstock]. I don’t think I realised just how much I missed that record, it was kind of like rediscovering it after such a long period of nothing. Yeah, we released Primeval but we never got to really finish off the whole tour cycle for Samsara so it was quite nostalgic, even though it wasn’t that long ago. It felt very nostalgic listening back to that record and deciding what songs to play, I guess it was a little bit emotional listening back to it.”
With Bloodstock well and truly shaking at its foundations, VENOM PRISON can see their time on stage at the festival as a job well and truly done. With a reminder served that they are still very much alive and kicking, alongside winning over a ton of new fans, the focus moves to the immediate future; album three. And with the might of Century Media Records behind them, you get the feeling that we haven’t seen the best of the band just yet. “I think it has got elements of everything that people who enjoy VENOM PRISON, it definitely has that,” Ben tells us when we probe for the first details of their next record. “There’s definitely memorable riffs, there’s headbanging riffs, there’s grooves and our signature blasts but we have got a lot more into exploring new instrumentation as well, so there is a bit of an electronic layer to it. I’ve been thinking of it as a bit more of a film soundtrack as well as an album, there’s extra layers to things. So, at the same time, it’s not just technical for the sake of being technical, my only criticism of Samsara looking back is that it was probably flexing for the sake of flexing. This time I feel like the new songs are a lot better structured, they are centred around the band as a whole.”
Batten down the hatches because there’s a storm coming and its impact is going to be enormous. Showing no signs of pandemic fatigue, VENOM PRISON are ready to whip up a whirlwind. Buckle up, it’s going to be wild ride.
Like VENOM PRISON on Facebook.
