You can trust Louder
The rise of Venom Prison has been one of the more enjoyable metal phenomena of recent years and it’s not hard to see why Prosthetic have deigned to give the Welsh quintet’s breakthrough record an extra push. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Animus is one of the strongest debuts by a UK death metal band in recent memory. Both true to the spirit of the genre and infused with enough crusty hardcore and post-90s groove to lure in more mainstream fans, it may not be quite the masterpiece recent hype has suggested, but it will still rip your face off. The best moments – the brooding Corrode The Black Sun and the insanely exciting, 93- second Perpetrator Emasculation – will almost certainly cause you to break furniture. Quite how five enjoyable but inessential live tracks amount to a “deluxe” upgrade is open to debate, however.
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Dom Lawson began his inauspicious career as a music journalist in 1999. He wrote for Kerrang! for seven years, before moving to Metal Hammer and Prog Magazine in 2007. His primary interests are heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee, snooker and despair. He is politically homeless and has an excellent beard.
