VM LIVE

Venomous Maximus - "Return of the Witch" (Video Premiere)

VM LIVE

True story: Venomous Maximus are the first band I ever discovered through a Facebook page recommendation. Something in that tech behemoth’s algorithms was able to understand my behavior enough to load my feed at the time with their 2012 album Beg Upon the Light until I finally caved. The algorithm knew enough to realize I had a penchant for rock and classic metal-influenced doom with legitimately great songwriting. And here I thought computers were only good for surveillance state enforcement and, um, figuring out efficient ways to jerk off:

More seriously, and back on topic, what’s amazing is that Venomous Maximus fixate on songwriting at all. Their peers are adept and stringing together riffs, but tend to fall a little short of memorability. The Houstonites, on the other hand, care enough to make songwriting a central part of their pitch. Most bands make you nod your head. Venomous Maximus make you hit the the rewind button.

Their upcoming third record, No Warning is probably more efficient at getting me to hit the rewind button than its two predecessors. Each packed a handful of great songs, but literally every track on No Warning works with a mathematical pop precision. It is as if Venomous Maximum are working on the algorithm for the perfect metal-pop song. For proof, peep this video for “Return of the Witch”.

No Warning is out on July 28 via Shadow Kingdom records. Order it here. Follow Venomous Maxmimus on intrusive stalker algorithm central here.