Venom Inc. will be hitting Newcastle for the first time, when they headline the city’s Byker Grave Festival on December 7.
Boasting original Venom former Venom frontman Tony ‘Demolition Man’ Dolan, the extreme metal legends will be topping a stacked bill at Newcastle University.
They’ll will be joined at the fest by New Orleans sludge agitators Eyehategod, Louisiana black thrashers Goatwhore, UK punk veterans Discharge, Northumbrian ‘monastic doom’ act Arð, Birmingham riff wielders Margarita Witch Cult, stoner metal trio Goblin Smoker and emerging North East doom metallers Druidess.
Venom Inc. were formed after Mantas, Dolan and Venom co-founder Abaddon – the Venom line-up which recorded 1989’s Prime Evil, 1991’s Temples Of Ice and 1992’s The Waste Lands – reunited in 2015 at Germany’s Keep It True Festival.
They debuted as Venom Inc. with 2017’s Avé album before Abaddon was replaced by US drummer Jeramie ‘War Machine’ Kling ahead of 2022’s There’s Only Black opus.
The band currently feature Tyneside-based Marc ‘JXN’ Jackson on drums and Curran ‘Beleth’ Murphy, who has stepped in on live guitars while Mantas continues to recover from a heart attack.
Byker Grave Festival has become a mainstay North East England’s metal calendar since it launched in 2013.
Featuring artists from the worlds of death, black and thrash metal, grind, sludge, doom and noise, the annual event has brought the likes of Conan, P.L.F., Green Lung, Knoll and Conjurer to Newcastle – and it has provided a platform for local artists such as Disciplinary, Waheela and Live Burial.
The first Byker Grave Festival was organised in 2013 as a response to the cancellation of the ill-fated Northern Darkness Festival, and has been held in venues across the city ever since.
2020 and 2021’s editions were cancelled due the Coronavirus pandemic, but the festival made a return in 2023, with Scottish blackened speed metallers Hellripper headlining a 10-band bill at Anarchy Brewery.
Check out what happened at Byker Grave Festival 2023 here.
Article by https://www.rushonrock.com/
