Review: VENEREAL BAPTISM “Deviant Castigation Liturgy”

VENEREAL BAPTISM “Deviant Castigation Liturgy”
Osmose Productions

Texas incarnates for many, maybe even the most of, people so called Wild West. That’s why everyone there wear buckaroo’s hat, work on rancho and ride hours, sometimes to be a little more modern old pick-up, but surely listen and dance to country music. Generally it’s rather backgrounded emptiness with strong rules. Well, even if I’d ignore fact that you read now something published in METALZINE I have no time and will to consider legal intricacies, so question of rules will stay open and if someone’s interested in that… Anyway, rest of superstitious picture of average resident of this second largest state in the States is wrong. Well, maybe somewhere on deep, deep province there’re such individuals, but it’s surely not about cities like Laredo!

In fact it’s quite big, as on American conditions, city where live more or less 250.000 people. It’s located on Rio Grande, so it’s also border city. In fact it creates one municipality with Mexican Nuevo Laredo what has several consequences. One of them is fact that people from both cities interact with each other. By the way, in 2014 Adversor (Waldo Roberto Rocha) decided to create a project which quite soon became a real band after joining him by other guys. Anyway, here we have example of this interaction – two of them: Warblast (Carlos S. – drums) and mentioned above Adversor (guitar) played or still play also in bands from Nuevo Laredo and Warblast is from this Mexican city.

Anyways, “Deviant Castigation Liturgy” is a debut full-length from Laredoans. Earlier Waldo, supported by Italian vocalist D. H., released five songs EP “Progenitor of All Aberrations” in 2015. Well, to be honest I have no idea why this stuff is called by EP and “Deviant Castigation Liturgy” is an album. The truth is that on this last one it has nine songs, but they take only something like 4.5 minutes more than these five ones on “Progenitor of All Aberrations”. But I’m afraid that in spite of being full of good will I’ll don’t solve this problem. Ultimately the most important is music and question how and why some stuffs are calling in this or other problem is only technical one without bigger meaning.

As I mentioned, we have here nine not too long and not too short compositions (three to four and an half minutes – there’re two exceptions, one of them is intro) which take a little less than twenty eight minutes. So it’s clear for most of you now that we have here to do with music eruptions and not some never-ending sophisticated songs. It doesn’t of course mean that guys play something primitive and in general boring. NO! Especially on the field of guitar playing it happens a lot – just it’s not so easy to notice since tempo mostly is middle-fast and Carlos tortures his instrument with no mercy. Of course there’re some slower parts and they’re not so rare, but short instead. Generally it’s quite various and even if passages aren’t very complicated they happen with rather high frequency. I’d like to hear at least little more cymbals, but maybe I’m just fucked in head on this point coz it’s really a lot of cymbals here. Adversor and Fermentor play also various guitars. Riffs are short and massive, but they change quite often and we have some technical relishes as well. Besides it’s clear that in these slower parts guys play little more stretched over time ones. Vocals are domain of D.H. and Prokingu (Jacob Holmes) who also plays bass. I have impression that I hear only one of them mostly, but… However, we have here possessed growling in vein of Mika Lattinen.

Well, music of VENEREAL BAPTISM in general connotes with his band. It’s, of course any copy and there’re of course things which differentiate both bands, but you have to listen to carefully. I really enjoy this album and will back to it from time to time surely.