2022 feels like a pivotal year for Venom Prison. Having spent the last five years establishing themselves as one of the most vital young names in the UK death metal scene, they have made steady progress that has seen them hit Download, play two main stage slots at Bloodstock, land a set at Glastonbury, bag a Metal Hammer Golden God Best New Band Award and support everyone on tour from Dying Fetus to Trivium. Their blend of guttural extreme metal, brutalising hardcore and socially and politically conscious lyricism has struck a real chord in our country’s metal underground, and with February’s Erebos representing their first new album proper since 2019’s blistering Samsara, there’s rarely been a better opportunity for a British extreme metal band to stake their claim on the world stage.
“[This will be] a new kind of Venom Prison,” singer Larissa Stupar teased about the album in an interview with Metal Hammer. “It’s the beginning of a new phase for us – we’ve been around for six or seven years and we’re only just getting started.”
Lead single Judges Of The Underworld was a promising start, offering a groove-heavy slab of extremity sprinkled with ghostly clean vocals and a bigger-sounding production than we’ve heard from Venom Prison so far.
“It was great experience being able to be creative where this was the only thing that kept us sane and alive,” Larissa added, “where we couldn’t go and do anything else, so we profited from it just in a mental sense. We can’t wait for people to experience it!”