CoC : Various - In the Sign of the Horns - A Tribute to Venom : Review

Various - _In the Sign of the Horns - A Tribute to Venom_
(Dwell Records, 2000)
by: Aaron McKay (6.5 out of 10)

This compilation is much more to my liking than the tribute to Zeppelin Dwell also put out [also reviewed in this issue]. For starters, this disc is a tribute to a group I hold close to my heart: Venom. Next, we have some pretty awe-inspiring bands anteing up for this effort, like Black Witchery, Diabolic and Mork Gryning. Finally, the song choices put forth here, while somewhat stereotypical, are solid. Coffin Texts displays a brutal rendition of "One Thousand Days in Sodom" right after a nicely done "Black Metal" cover by the Los Angeles band Nokturne. Very good way to start off, I say. There is a little bit of a lag with one of my least favorite groups, Bloodstorm, doing "Satanachist" (snore!), followed by Venereal Disease and Perverseraph putting out "Lady Lust" and "Genocide", respectively. From the Depths brings things back around with an incredible interpretation of "Live Like an Angel" sounding flawlessly close to the original, but with a perfect dose of From the Depths flavor. After Evil Incarnate ("In Nomine Satanas") and Black Witchery adding their two cents worth by pulling off "Warhead" authoritatively (Massacre's version still being my favorite, however), we find Diabolic at track nine. If it wasn't for Osmose recording artists Ritual Carnage ("Welcome to Hell"), Mork Gryning ("Leave Me in Hell") and Acheron ("Countess Bathory") on this collection, Diabolic's effort with "Buried Alive" would be hands down my favorite song. Rounding out the last three unmentioned cuts are respectable renderings by Anal Blast ("Red Light Fever"), Noctuary ("Die Hard") and Morpheus Descends ("Angel Dust"). The last three tracks I mentioned weren't bad at all, but just not my favorite Venom offerings. This compilation isn't quite up to the Cleopatra equivalent in 1998, but still very good. There is a trade-off between the two, I think, where we pick up Diabolic and Ritual Carnage with this one, but lose Voivod, Nuclear Assault and Sodom on the Cleopatra collection. As far as the labels are concerned, Dwell is sporting the vastly more professional organization and I think Cleopatra was just plain lucky with their Venom tribute. RESURRECTION!

Contact: http://www.dwellrecords.com

(article published 20/11/2000)