Houston’s Venomous Maximus performs heavy rock from an earlier time. ‘The Living Dead,’ from the band’s 2010 debut 7”, hearkens back to a pre-Pepper COC. Everything is recorded louder than everything else and Gregg Higgins sing-speak-chant vocal style seeths with barely contained aggression. The song’s bridge dives into the even earlier tones of first-wave heavy psychedelia. A-side ‘Give Up The Witch,’ meanwhile, takes these elements and adds a dash of NWOBHM riffage.
VM’s ‘The Mission’ EP continues in the same vein but is even more blunt and primal. Bulldozing riffs get ‘The Gift’ started, vocals riding on top and the whole thing taking a very well executed turn into spookiness two-thirds of the way through. ‘Wicked Ways’ brings in some surf punk while making friends with the devil, perfectly setting up the meth-fueled hillbilly Mercyful Fate vibe of ‘The Rider,’ which also features some very cool, seemingly effortless twin-guitar riffing from Higgins and Christian Larson.
Title track ‘The Mission’ wraps things up in the same biker rock-meets-black metal style, but never quite fully gels and runs about a minute too long.
Venomous Maximus have tapped into some fertile territory and it’ll be interesting to see how they continue to grow. Keep stripping it down, honing and refining, focusing on the riff and a Texas version of Ghost is one possibility.
Well, without the keyboards. And the clerical garb. And the incense burner.
But catchy and dark? Oh, hell yeah.