Mpire of Evil - Hell To The Holy

Mpire Of Evil is what the ex-Venom members, Jeff “Mantas” Dunn (guitar), Antony “Antton” Lant (drums; brother of Venom frontman “Cronos”) and Tony “The Demolition Man” Dolan (bass, vocals) finally call the band. Firstly, it was called Prime Evil but after issues they had with a band of the same name they decided to change it… for everyone’s sake.

 

So, what do you except to hear from some of the members that defined the thrash, death/black, extreme sound in general back in 1980? Surely… you’ve guessed right… thrash metal music with lots of Venom similarities (how could they avoid it afterwards) and some rock & roll ala Motorhead influences. Fairly, I was expecting something way better than this one… something more inspired… ‘cuz “Hell To The Holy” is quite bland at times. They’re trying to sound more renewed but they do sound kind of dated in the end. The production was taken care by Mantas himself… but if the result is what I’m hearing on this promo… then it’s certainly rather hollow and not so dynamic as it should be for a heavy/thrash moniker. The musicianship is tight though.

 

I know that some may have great expectations from this album and this band… but overall “Hell To The Holy” is sort of inadequate… although it’s better than Venom’s latest work. Maybe, that’s the reason why Antton left the band before the debut album hit the stores… and more weird is what he stated: “My family life and Def-Con-One are more important to me”. Anyway, we just have to wait for the band’s next moves to see if this departure will be fatal for their future.