It is my honest opinion that Retroactive Abortion, the new album from the hardcore/thrash "supergroup" Venomous Concept, is intended, by both the label and the band, to be taken with a grain of salt. First of all, how seriously can one (in this day and age) take a band whose song titles include "Monkey See””Monkey Beat," "Idiot Parade," "Smash," and "Anti Social." Rather, I prefer to pose an alternative scenario: Venomous Concept have created Retroactive Abortion purely as a nostalgia piece.
You see, having grown up in the Kansas City area in the 1970s and 1980s, I can vouch for the fact that the number of places where one could go to see a decent show were, sadly, few and far between. There was a shitty little run-down shack of a venue outside of Lawrence, KS, called "The Outhouse," where the intrepid Midwestern Republican "punk" could venture occasionally to see bands like S.O.D., G.B.H., Dag Nasty, Minor Threat, etc., and get a nosebleed from some sweaty, socially inept, borderline retarded loser in the mosh pit to boot. Venomous Concept play music for the type of people who hung out at The Outhouse religiously and thought Napalm Death and Toxic Reasons were the shit then, and still do. You know the type: the sweaty, chunky, rosy-cheeked Dungeons and Dragons geeks who, returning to high school after the summer of their sophomore year, miraculously morphed into "punks": their hair got longer or shaved off completely, they traded in their nerdy sneakers for combat boots, their blue jeans for cut-off fatigue shorts, their knit sweaters for faded Agnostic Front concert t-shirts and threadbare flannel. They lost a little weight, had their mommies take them to the tattoo parlor, and all the punk chicks loved them. Those fucking guys you saw at EVERY damn show between 1986 and the present, always accompanied by their dizzy, sycophantic, crying, groupie wanna-be girlfriend du jour. These guys are the target audience for Venomous Concept. I mean, you've got Buzz Osbourne from The Melvins, a couple of guys from Napalm Death, and an ex-member of Brutal Truth... playing this stuff in 2004. These guys are old enough and established enough to not really be taking this shit seriously. Clearly they are not.
These guys are tight, they rock, and they perform with tongue firmly planted in cheek. This is music for those guys who still shamble past The Outhouse (now a b.y.o.b. strip club) with a tear in their eye, longing for those magical glory days of the mosh pit. Now they have something new to listen to while sitting on their matted living room carpets, Playstation controller in one hand, and a joint in the other. Woohoo!
You see, having grown up in the Kansas City area in the 1970s and 1980s, I can vouch for the fact that the number of places where one could go to see a decent show were, sadly, few and far between. There was a shitty little run-down shack of a venue outside of Lawrence, KS, called "The Outhouse," where the intrepid Midwestern Republican "punk" could venture occasionally to see bands like S.O.D., G.B.H., Dag Nasty, Minor Threat, etc., and get a nosebleed from some sweaty, socially inept, borderline retarded loser in the mosh pit to boot. Venomous Concept play music for the type of people who hung out at The Outhouse religiously and thought Napalm Death and Toxic Reasons were the shit then, and still do. You know the type: the sweaty, chunky, rosy-cheeked Dungeons and Dragons geeks who, returning to high school after the summer of their sophomore year, miraculously morphed into "punks": their hair got longer or shaved off completely, they traded in their nerdy sneakers for
combat boots, their blue jeans for cut-off fatigue shorts, their knit sweaters for faded Agnostic Front concert t-shirts and threadbare flannel. They lost a little weight, had their mommies take them to the tattoo parlor, and all the punk chicks loved them. Those fucking guys you saw at EVERY damn show between 1986 and the present, always accompanied by their dizzy, sycophantic, crying, groupie wanna-be girlfriend du jour. These guys are the target audience for Venomous Concept. I mean, you've got Buzz Osbourne from The Melvins, a couple of guys from Napalm Death, and an ex-member of Brutal Truth... playing this stuff in 2004. These guys are old enough and established enough to not really be taking this shit seriously. Clearly they are not.
These guys are tight, they rock, and they perform with tongue firmly planted in cheek. This is music for those guys who still shamble past The Outhouse (now a b.y.o.b. strip club) with a tear in their eye, longing for those magical glory days of the mosh pit. Now they have something new to listen to while sitting on their matted living room carpets, Playstation controller in one hand, and a joint in the other. Woohoo!
1. Weirdo
2. Oink!
3. Rhetoric
4. I Said it Before
5. Freakbird
6. Infest
7. Life's Fine
8. Idiot Parade
9. Hard On
10. Group Hug
11. Anti Social
12. Run Around
13. Smash
14. Monkey See--Monkey Beat
15. Total Recall
16. Braincrash
More about: Venomous Concept
