Venom Inc
January 21, 2016
Glass House- Pomona, CA
Venom Inc is an incarnation of legendary British heavy/thrash metal band, Venom. This lineup features original Venom members Anthony “Abaddon” Bray (drums), Jeffrey “Mantas” Dunn (guitar), and former Venom vocalist/bassist, Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan. Venom is one of the most important bands in the heavy metal scene as not only did they influence many thrash, death, and extreme metal bands, but they are best known for giving birth to the genre, black metal. They are also known for their use of satanic imagery and lyrics. Despite that, the band members themselves are not satanic and is only meant for their use in music. Following a legal dispute with Venom, Venom Inc was allowed to play Venom songs. In 2015, the band formed and quickly started touring and announced their first USA tour for fans of Venom that have eagerly waited to hear live Venom tunes. One of the many stops on the tour was the Glass House in Pomona, California and the fans were all ready to go to hell!
Venom Inc came out to a dedicated and energized fan-base as fans cheered when they came on stage. Venom Inc started the show with Prime Evil, the first track from Venom’s 1989 Prime Evil album and first album to feature Demolition Man on bass/vocals. Venom is known for their fast metal music and surprisingly, Prime Evil was more of a rock song and started the show off slowly, possibly to get the crowd warmed up. Once that was over, Venom Inc started their onslaught of heavy and thrash metal with Die Hard which was released as a 7″ single in 1983. Fans knew of this song and surely enough, mosh pits 
commenced and even crowd surfers quickly made an appearance. For the third track, Demolition Man told the crowd that there are some things in life that you just don’t do. One of those things? You Don’t Burn the Witch! This song drove fans wild and the show was just getting started. Up next was the fan-favorite Live Like An Angel (Die Like A Devil) and fans could be seen singing along to the title track and chorus. Buried Alive and Raise the Dead are two more fan favorites and fit nicely together as a two-part song. Demolition Man took a quick break to tell the crowd a quick story about the Forbidden City in Beijing, China and how it was ruled by a king. Imagine being born into that and that being your destiny to live within those walls never being allowed to leave. That story would lead to the next song, 1,000 Days In Sodom.
Warhead continued the show as fans sang along to the chorus, “Warrrheaaad!”. Demolition Man told the crowd that they’ve probably done something nice today like hold the door open for an individual. As for themselves, they sing songs about Satan and claim the fans are schizophrenic as they played Schizo. Venom Inc continued to unleash hell on the crowd as they played old school favorites like The Seven Gates of Hell, In Nomine Satanas, and Bloodlust. The show seemed to be coming to an end as Demolition Man told the crowd that everyone in the room are the Sons of Satan! Venom Inc finished the song and left the stage, yet the fans weren’t ready to go home just yet. Venom Inc came back out as Demolition Man asked the crowd, “Do you want to go to hell!?” the crowd responded with a loud cheer and Demolition Man asked again, “Do you want to go to hell!?!?” the crowd let out an even louder cheer as Venom Inc played their first encore which was one of their most famous songs, Welcome to Hell. Fans could be seen singing along to the chorus, “Welcome to Hell….Welcome to Hell!” all while moshing their lives away. Mantas took the opportunity to speak to the crowd and tell them how if it wasn’t for them, they wouldn’t be where they are now and thanked everyone for coming out and thanked them again for supporting heavy fucking metal! He continued his speech and started to talk about how over 30 years ago in 1982, Venom released a song from an album of the same name and how that song changed heavy metal and even created its own genre. That song is one of the best songs in metal, Black Metal! This was clearly the best song of the night as the crowd gave the band the biggest mosh pit of the night. Demolition Man would start the chorus, “Black Metal…Black Metal…Black Metal…Black Metal…lay down your souls to the…” and he would allow the fans to finish, “gods rock and roll!”. Countess Bathory was the next encore song and let fans sing along with him to the chorus, “Countess…Baaathorrry!”. Now that the show was coming to an end for real, Demolition Man asked the crowd, “what time is it!?” and fans responded with, “Witching Hour!”. And so, Venom Inc played the final song, Witching Hour from their debut Welcome to Hell album. Venom Inc wrapped up the show, thanked the crowd for coming out, and slapped hands with nearby fans. It seems on this night, Venom Inc took fans To Hell…and Back!
Review by: Misael Ruiz
