Album Review: Venomous Concept – The Good Ship Lollipop

By DAN SOUTHALL

THIS band was begun as a side-grind that allowed its members to do something slightly different from their respective day jobs before becoming known for music almost the same. Gone here though is the swirling grind madness VC have staked their reputation on, replaced by a heavy punk rock and hardcore extravaganza, stepping off the crazy pedal and giving their music a chance to breathe.This isn’t just an evolution in their output, but a complete change of direction.

Wasting no time getting to their evolution, the opening, self-titled track has elements of electronica mixed with a standard 4 on the floor beat (Shock! Horror!) with the only real connection to the sound of yore being vocalist Kevin Sharp’s razor throat. The pace steps up a little on the follow up track Timeline, that sees the introduction of some fancy guitar licks and solos along with clean throaty vocal lines.

From here I was honestly too busy adjusting to, and enjoying, this album. It has all different elements of the 80s hardcore and post-punk music I enjoy. There are probably bands doing it better right now, but have they completely alienated their fanbase to do it? 

 Of course there was one or two tracks that reminded me I was listening to more of an experiment, such as Fractured that has Shane Embury taking on lead vocal duties and creating a track that is far more sugary than I would ever expect to hear from VC, and even though it only just breaks the three minute mark, it feels as though it drags on too long.

Overall though, as much as this album is a surprise, it is more caramel-in-a-biscuit surprise and less shit-on-your-doorstep.  It isn’t what you will expect if you are a long time fan but the core writing unit of Embury and Sharp are still here, just committing to something different,. Would I have preferred pure grind chaos? Of course and that is here in small doses like So Sick, but overall this is a successful experiment in growth.