Impelliteri’s tenth studio album ‘Venom‘ was a funny record. Not intentionally so, unfortunately, but lyrically it was so clichéd, it managed to make Judas Priest seem like they could be nominated for an Ivor Novello award at any given moment. Funnier still was Chris Impellitteri’s thinking behind the release: he supposedly wanted to “…create a metal record that would appeal to everyone… Even women”, apparently. Here was a man so stuck within a universe centred around 1984, he failed to even see how a lot of women were active on the metal scene at the time of its release. The very idea that some of them were even in bands might’ve just made his little head explode.
Tag Archives: impelliteri
GRAHAM BONNET BAND – The Book
Graham Bonnet is one of the UK’s hardest working rock vocalists. In the past, he’s fronted big name bands, been a voice for hire for several widdly guitarists and even found time in between for a hit and miss solo career. When on good form, Bonnet can be terrific (as evidenced on Rainbow’s classic ‘Down To Earth and his own ‘Line Up); when he misses the mark, he has the ability to do so in a devastating way (the Blackthorn debut is pretty nasty, and somehow his solo LP ‘No Bad Habits’ from 1978 ended up being one of the worst albums ever recorded). Despite these inconsistencies, the Skegness born singer has reached legendary status.
IMPELLITTERI – Venom
For fans of shred-metal, Chris Impellitteri is a man who needs no introduction. With his eponymously named outfit, the Californian fretboard melter has been issuing discs filled with bombastic Euro-inflected metal for years, often with either ex-Joshua mouthpiece Rob Rock or ex-Rainbow man Graham Bonnet on vocals. Heavy and fast are Impellitteri’s two favourite styles – usually demonstrated together – and 2015’s ‘Venom’ (the band’s tenth album, breaking a six year silence) follows that expected pattern.