Heavy Metal Tribune Review

By: Toh Hong Rui
March 8th, 2013

VON - Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves Album Review

While I only pretty recently got acquainted with VON‘s material, their 2012 “full length” release Satanic Blood only served to solidify my opinion of them as a parody of their past, with that album merely containing material that they have rehashed numerous times over their career, prior to and after their hiatus. The announcement of a new VON album, Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves this year did nothing to interest me, until the realisation that this release actually contained completely new material.Half expecting VON to continue plowing forward with their repetitive, simplistic and primitive style of black metal, the band actually surprised listeners on Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves with the introducing of numerous different styles on this release. “They Have Come” is an atmospheric/ambient instrumental track, and while VON‘s music has known for its sinister feel that it emanates, moments like these certainly take things up a notch, with the band finally displaying some shift in their songwriting style. This could be good indeed.

And while I almost expected things to speed up and for VON to go back to business as usual as soon as the track ended, the band continued to surprise its followers with the 10-minute Ancient Flesh of the Dark Gods, a far cry from the short, straightforward style that VON has come to be known for. Furthermore, unlike the fast, monotonous pace that the band likes to go at, “Ancient Flesh of the Dark Gods” certainly shows a growth in the band’s songwriting, with a more variation in the pace. The style of the track, while still containing the usual sounds of VON (in terms of the tone of the guitars and how the instrumentation are executed), the track moves at an almost doom pace for the most part. Perhaps this track being a collaboration with Coffinworm helped a bit in providing a sound that is unusual for a VON track. And weirdly enough, despite the length of the track it didn’t feel boring at all, instead putting the listener in a trance in preparation for the onslaught to come after that.

But fans of VON‘s older material need not worry as later tracks of the album sees the band speeding things up, and once again re-introduce their former style of music, though the atmospheric aspects of the music seem to be more apparent this time round. The repetitive style of the band, and that almost singular pace that the band goes at from track to track would sit well with fans of bands like Beherit and those of the Ross Bay Cult like Blasphemy, though things seem to be not so boring this time round. Also, there is a somewhat reduced sense of chaos on the album, and songs like “Hands of Black Death” have a rather strong melody that drives the music forward, yet retaining a haunting feel throughout.I never thought that the day would come when I would actually say that I might like VON, but with the material on Dark Gods, and the band’s expanded sound, I could actually start to look forward to follow ups to this trilogy for once, with Dark Gods being the first instalment of a series of album.

(Source: heavymetaltribune.com)

VON - Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves (Open Edition) (Digital Album)

vVurMzflessshhh Publishing

Buy album
Cat/Sku#: VR D0009

Artist: VON
Title: Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves (Open Edition) (Digital Album)
Volume: Dark Gods Vol.I
Audio Format: Digital
Publisher/Distributor: Von Records (USA)
Digital Release Date: 2013
Illustration: VENIEN

Track-Listing:
01. They Have Come
02. Ancient Flesh of The Dark Gods Feat. D & C (Coffinworm)
03. Hands of
Cat/Sku#: VR D0009

Artist: VON
Title: Dark Gods: Seven Billion Slaves (Open Edition) (Digital Album)
Volume: Dark Gods Vol.I
Audio Format: Digital
Publisher/Distributor: Von Records (USA)
Digital Release Date: 2013
Illustration: VENIEN

Track-Listing:
01. They Have Come
02. Ancient Flesh of The Dark Gods Feat. D & C (Coffinworm)
03. Hands of Black Death
04. Dark Gods
05. MONSTER!
06. RawRot
07. DevilWhore
08. iAmInHuMan
09. Black Eyes

Recoding Lineup:
Jason Ventura (VENIEN) (vocals | bass)
Jon Gonzalez (Lord Giblete) (guitar)
Charlie Fell (drums)
Special Guests: vocals by D (Coffinworm) & guitar solo by C (Coffinworm)
Read more…
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  1. 1
    They Have Come (Digital Edition) 3:23
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  2. 2
    Ancient Flesh of The Dark Gods Feat. D & C (Coffinworm) (Digital Edition) 10:09
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  3. 3
    Hands of Black Death (Digital Edition) 6:14
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  4. 4
    Dark Gods (Digital Edition) 2:59
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  5. 5
    MONSTER! (Digital Edition) 5:32
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  6. 6
    RawRot (Digital Edition) 7:40
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  7. 7
    DevilWhore (Digital Edition) 6:02
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  8. 8
    iAmInHuman (Digital Edition) 6:03
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  9. 9
    Black Eyes (Digital Edition) 6:07
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