Straight from the German underground comes Venues, a band that has had a lot of Europe talking over the past few years. One listen to their debut feature album Aspire and it is easy to see why there has been so much love for the band to date. There is something new and fresh about Venues sound, but having said that this is also a sound that is going to divide some heavy music fans as well.
Venues’ sound feels like a metalcore crashed into Paramore, now that isn’t a bad thing if like myself you have a wide taste in music – it may be an issue though for someone looking for the more aggressive side of metalcore. If you are willing to take a listen though you will soon see though that this is a band that offers the best of both worlds.
Opening track, ‘We Are One’, shows everything that Venues has to offer. It reveals a tight band that infuse the two genres very well – it showcases the amazing vocals of Nyves Krithinidou and the growls and screams of Robin Baumann. The blend works well and the hardest thing that the band would had to faced before the release of Aspire would have been which tracks to have used as singles because ‘Lights’ and ‘The Longing’ are also great enough to fill that title.
‘Fading Away’ is enhanced by the sweeter male vocals of Chris Wieczorek from Annisokay before the track is taken back to its metalcore roots with some brutal vocals and jarring guitars from Constantin Ranis and Toni Lixx. The more mellow sounding ‘The Epilogue’ sounds like the early days of Plumb but the brutality returns with ‘Dilemma’ another standout track on the album that is made a lot better by the drumming of Dennis Vanhofen.
There is enough pieces of brilliance on Aspire to suggest that Venues will not just be flash-in-the-pan. From a great message in ‘Star Children’, the manic yet sweet ‘Nothing Less’ and the epic sounding ‘My True North’ and ‘Ignite’ there is just so much to love about this band.
Venues may have a very acquired sound but this is a band that should be checked. Aspire shows that as a band they are willing to do things a little bit differently and it will be interesting to hear how their sound evolves over the years. Well worth a look!
