Ageless Venomous

Infamous for the production at display, Ageless Venomous by Krisiun is the black sheep of their discography. Or so, it seems many want it to be. But more on that later. So what does Ageless Venomous contain in terms of music and whatnot? Well, they pretty much unleash everything they got, all put together in a well composed manner.

For starters, the general arrangement of the songs are just utmost terrific. The guitar lean towards a little more technical style than before, but still keep it rather simple at the same time, dishing out frantic leads every now and then. Sure, the guitar could be better but in terms of what place it have on this album, it hits the note almost perfectly in tune and atmosphere. The bass guitar as well could be better but have the same penchant as the guitar, fitting almost perfectly for what the band is trying to do here. The drumming is as always straight forward with blasts and whatnot, but this time, each hit on every drum and cymbal is more easily picked up, and the kicks, they are timed so damn well it becomes almost hypnotizing. As for the vocals, they do what they are supposed to, but can be very enjoyable as phrases of blasphemy are spat out in a deep and roaring, yet in a somewhat clear manner.

The production and mixing is fairly good, giving room to everything. Of course, there is the issue with the drums, the kicks sounding very wooden. It was probably intentional, and as well, is a very acquired taste that may be enough to simply give you a strong dislike for this album as a whole. But to be honest, they also have a lot of character to them. In terms of the entire discography of Krisiun, Ageless Venomous is without a doubt the most unique sounding album because of the drums. But enough about that, so what else is there? The songwriting, as mentioned at the start of the previous paragraph, is just superb. Everything is matching up and timed so well that it really goes in favor for every instrument. They all stand out one way or another, and they all have their place well chosen. And as to be expected, or unexpected, the chemistry between the members is at the top here, as evident through the already mentioned songwriting. Another thing barely touched upon, is the atmosphere which is really haunting, in a good way.

Aside from some minor quirks and as well a major one, which can actually manage to revert itself to the greatest positive here, there is not much wrong about this album. The songwriting is superb and memorable, the atmosphere is great, and the instrumentation is impressive. Overall, making this release being the most unique by Krisiun. It does not leave anything at the bench, but rather unleash all it can and it does deliver. In the end, like it or not, this is a quality product, just give it some time and focus on the music.

Stand-out tracks: Diableros, Sepulchral Oath, Dawn of Flagellation, Serpents Spectres, Evil Gods Havoc.
9,5/10

Now, the production and consequently the drums are disturbing, but it was no distress for me since most other things turned out quite a gem. Yes, the drums sound (inhumanly) mechanical and the double bass are probably woody (I thought basses are to produce low notes, aren’t they?). Then turn up to rest of the instrumentations and it utterly was charging me to the brutality. I must admit, the songs are incredibly skillfully written, and few of those have come out to be authentically sticky in connection to my tastes.

A solid death metal aims to deliver a holocaust, and this album is no exception. Whilst production might be a flaw right here, while not considering this segment, it’s all in all good, going through the tracks. Keep limelighting this error and you’ll not find anything interesting in this anyway, unlike me.

So… the most thrilling feature is the guitars by Moyses Kolesne, the riffs which are made technically wicked but not forming a wall of complexity to a listener. As “Perpetuation” opens through the ambient flutes and as immediate as the killer guitars roll in, it just tended to give me a nonstop ride to extremeness (okay, I wasn’t distracted by the drum’s sound at all). These guitars seem to turn more intensified in tracks as “Dawn of Flagellation”, “Evil God’s Havoc” and the 5:46 long instrumental “Serpent’s Specter”. And I’ve also got to remark the acoustic instrumental “Diableros” for its immense beauty (yes this is beauty). The bass guitar in this album however finds its sound free only at fewer parts, here and there.

The vocals are also another point impressing me. Alex Camargo’s vocals resumes to remain powerful and controlling over this album too (well, it’s better than porkgrinder I’m turning right now).

Hell, the drums seem to have got a hell of a discontent, but for me the production has still lagged a step behind the awesomeness of Max Kolesne and his strong speedy deliverances. The drums sound computerized, but it is better to have a human releasing it rather than most programmed drum works that we find around.

All things being said, it’s still one brutal album by the Brazilian death metal giants with the ever prominent fierce speed and technicality. Don’t try this album if you intend to fuck around taking the production and the double bass factors as the major deal only to dislike this one. 85/100

With the predecessors “Conquerors Of Armageddon” and “Apocalyptic Revelation”, Krisiun decided to clean their sound and try a new formula, a bit different from “Black Force Domain”. That album was great because presented us a band who played at the speed of light, that along with a raw but powerful sound, was contaminated by a black metal aura. Now the sounds are sharp as razors and everything sounds more “plastic” and less primordial.

They grew a lot as musicians for example in the songs structures and in technique level, filling the sound with virtuosos guitar solos and quite complicated riffs, followed by a pounding bass and various stop and go like in the “Perpetuation” song. Anyway, except for the sharp sound, the first thing you can notice is the drums sound. To me is great because totally wooden and clear cut. The blast beats sound like a machine gun with the lethal combination of fast bass drum and the stomps on the snare. “Dawn Of Flagellation” is awesome with a stunning main riff. The best here.

The vocals are always brutal as fuck but they sound a bit less evil and bad ass respect the other albums, maybe because they are a bit suffocated by the rhythmic session, that is totally restless. Check out the stop and go on the title track where you can hear the double kick very well and the virtuosos on the guitars. Anyway it’s inevitable that the impact suffers a bit with this production but the brutality level is so high that it’s hard to image that there are just three guys behind this massacre.

The band is really good when decides to point on more “opened sounds” with the fast bass drum on the first line, no fast tempo on the snare and the guitars on epic riffs. Even the stunning riffs on “Evil Gods Havoc” sound more thrash than death but I like it. There are always great tempo changes and quite good songwriting. It's good to hear that the group decided to try new things for the guitars, compared to the past and the riff on “Saviour’s Death” is an example of that: more complex and with a sort of progressive touch.

All in all, a great album with always fast, technical songs in pure death metal style, exception made for the weird “Diableiros”, full of Mexican acoustic guitars work and no death metal at all. Krisiun still going strong.

This is the worst produced album of Krisiun’s discography. The guitars are hollow and the drums sound like wood. But guess what? This is their best album!

There’s one outstanding reason for this: Even though the album is poorly produced, that doesn’t stop them from creating good riffs. It doesn’t force them to make the vocals dominate over everything. It doesn’t mean the songs they do create to be a pile. It doesn’t mean they need to change their sound to get the desired effect.

Think about it. What would’ve happened, if the production was the same, if Krisiun decided not to blast beat, or to have the album saturated in vocals, or force themselves to be over-creative, coming up with substandard riffs, just to be different because the production is worse? It wouldn’t be the same, would it?

I know what you’re thinking now. “Yeah, yeah, mikeyc, but that doesn’t change the fact that the album sounds like shit now.” You’re right, it doesn’t, but focus on the music for a second. The opening riffs of “Perpetuation” and the title track are freakin’ awesome, and the final 50 seconds or so of “Saviour’s Blood”, and the instrumentals, “Serpents Specters” and “Diableros”. You can’t tell me that these sections/songs are not catchy? Now, the opening riff of the title track, “Ageless Venomous”, especially the first ten seconds (after the fire noises), is mostly drums. There are a few guitar hits in there, but those “wooden” drums dominate. My God, that shit is catchy! I had it stuck in my head ages after I heard it. And what about the instrumental “Serpents Specters”? Not only is the song awesome, but it’s the second-longest on the album! So this means an entire song, with bad production, with no vocals to hide anything. On other albums it would be filler, but not here. The same with “Diableros”. This track shows off the guitarists’ speed with an acoustic. It definitely sounds like filler, but it isn’t. It’s actually quite good.

If you’re still thinking about the production now, it’s obvious you’re not going to like the album, so stick with something like AssassiNation or Conqueror’s of Armageddon. For the rest of us, we can get past the poor production into the greatness of the playing and riffing underneath.

Best tracks: Perpetuation, Ageless Venomous, Serpents Specters

Oyy...as others have stated truthfully, the production on this CD is utter crap. No ambience at all, no character, it is sterile and lifeless with the worst drum sound ever laid to tape. I thought it was Nick Barker for a moment! They may as well have used a drum machine it sounds so horribly tinny and processed. OK, that issue aside, this is a step up from "Conquerors of Armageddon" musically, with more proficient musicianship from the band on all fronts.

The riffs are far more technical and elongated--not just little bursts of notes anymore, they are elastic stretches of notes flowing forth with ease. A downright free-jazz feel raises its head here and there on parts of some songs, dare I say it. And it oddly enough suits the musical proceedings just fine. You can still tell that English is not their first language, as the occult-based lyrics come off as downright odd at times because of that fact.

As always Max does nothing but blast away, but he's much tighter than last go round. You can even hear the bass here and there, a rare thing, and Alex does a good job nailing things down. His vocals are deeper and uglier, too, but still retaining the same character that sets him apart from most Frank Mullen/Chris Barnes clones. Moyses learned the art of sweep picking on this album and his solos are bursting with wild, molten bursts of fluid arpeggios left and right. Unfortunately, he needs to learn a new solo, as most of his solos start out the same--long bend and vibrato, then sweeping his brains out the rest of the way through.

The instrumentals are pretty cool too, especially "Diableros" where Moyses shows off his amazing acoustic guitar prowess over Max beating the crap out of hand drums. How many guitar players do you know other than jazz fusion monsters like Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin who can shred on acoustic this fast and clean? It is far more demanding than electric guitar for sure.

This CD was altogether a step up and an improvement for the brothers at the time, and paved the way for "Works Of Carnage", their best release to date. The production is the dealbreaker, however, it goes without saying! If you are a death metal completist, pick this up if you really want to hear where they were going at the time.

Krisiun, along with Sepultura, are one of the biggest metal acts to come out of Brazil. Their 4th full-length release, Ageless Venomous, is arguably their best, and places them in the top ranks of death metal.

The album opens with "Perpetuation", a slow starting track that all of a sudden kicks in HARD and FAST. However, the first thing I noticed with this track is the drumming - it sounds very "computerized." Obviously, with nearly all releases nowadays, the drumming was done using a drum-machine, but on this particular track it sounds really bad in parts. However, it happens on this opening track only. As always, the guitars sound demented, with some cool, weird riffs. The vocals are blasting growls, unrelenting in aggression and power.

The drumming sounds a lot better on the rest of the tracks. Vocals are pretty much the same the whole way through - aggressive and powerful.

In the two instrumental tracks, Serpents Specters and Diableros, the band shows great musicianship. Serpents Specters has insane and demented riffs, as you would expect from the band. The drumming pounds the message home. On Diableros, Moyses uses an acoustic guitar, and it's some of the fastest acoustic guitar playing I've heard in a while. The drums add greatly to this song instrumental, and through the wonders of stereo, the drumming moves from one speaker to the other.

Evil Gods Havoc is possibly one of the best death metal songs written in 2001. Great riffs throughout, and the instruments all blend together nicely.

Overall, a great album. Check it out if you're a fan of good death metal.