Mpire Of Evil - Hell To The Holy

Published April 11 2012

*=Staff's pick	Hellspawn* Metal Messiah* Waking Up The Dead Hell To The Holy Snake Pit All Hail Devil Shockwave* The 8th Gate* M-Pire (Prelude)

Genre	Heavy Metal	Demolition Man	Vocals
Tracks	10	Mantas	Guitar
Running time	51 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Scarlet Records	Demolition Man	Bass
Release	26 March 2012	Antton	Drums
Country	England	-	Keyboard
Producer	Jeff "Mantas" Dunn
Similar artists	Venom

Hell To The Holy is the debut album of Mpire Of Evil, featuring Venom founder Jeff "Mantas" Dunn, former Venom vocalist/bassist Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan and former Venom drummer Antton Lant. I probably should mention, though, that right after the recording of this album Antton left the band for personal reasons.

I'll bear in mind that this is not a Venom review but with these members it's hard not to compare the two. This is however in no way a sequel to The Waste Lands - the last Venom album that featured Demolition Man at the vocal duties - although many of the core musical elements are similar. This is more of an evolution than a continuation.

Songs like Hellspawn, Metal Messiah, Shockwave and the epic The 8th Gate (A sequel to The Seven Gates Of Hell, perhaps?) should kill all doubts about this constellation. And beside the thick darkness, there is a playfulness that shines through in the music in songs as Snake Pit and Devil, the latter having a southern-rock touch which works surprisingly well.

The main strength here is Mantas' song writing - while the Venom of today puts out maybe a couple of good songs with every new album, some of the riffs and solos here are truly amazing. Hell To The Holy actually sounds hungry and inspired in a way I hadn't expected and it grows with every time I listen to it. Check it out.