Anyone who has looked up the personnel involved in this group would probably be expecting something like a Venom record. Well, you would duly be mistaken, whilst the group is Jeff Mantas, Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan and drummer Antton, musically they have tried to move away from the Venom tag, but obviously, as the PR material suggests, they are still playing the Venom who’s who in the history stakes.

There are songs that could have featured on Venom, Warfare and Atomkraft releases, namely ‘Shockwave’ and ‘Metal Messiah’ (the latter has a great solo), I am not going to deny them the speed/black/thrash moments that they have been famous for in their past, but tracks like ‘Devil’ may surprise you, certainly with its laid back  Southern charm and groove, much like Mr Wylde’s BLS group, I kid you not, slide guitar and everything. This shows some sort of writing freedom, no longer will they be shackled to the Venom tag, although I have to admit, I do prefer the more upbeat numbers on this album, these give the band their identity, the Southern charmed sounds could basically be any number of musicians laying down this track, it’s not distinguishable. Dolan’s powerful bass guitar attack is ever the pushing backbone of any of these songs, and vocally, it stands out as being who he is, you won’t be messing with these guys, there is an abrasive moment of freshness in the delivery, the songs, well, without the speed, they are not that special, but the faster ones will suit any metal head, especially those leaning into modern heavy thrash and even some harder euro metal, yes even that of all things. In this corner of my mind I pick out the intricate guitar work and riff machine Mantas that is coming out of his shell, there are some wicked passages of harmony, I could see this on a large stage 20 feet tall, searchlights blazing onto the shiny paintwork of the guitar, it goes places, far out places, I like that!

Venom may have arguably been the beginning of thrash/black/speed metal, but for 3 former members, they at least try something a little different using that experience to their credit, whether that’s a good thing or not, well I am still not convinced, but I am impressed with this turn of events and the resulting album ‘Hell to the Holy’, but don’t expect a trip down memory lane, enjoy this release on its own merits.

(7/10 Paul Maddison)  

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