Sweden’s Stench offer a bit of a conundrum with Venture, their second full length and fourth release overall. It is that rare album that is instantly likable and appealing, yet falls outside of easy categorization or description. Mainly, it’s really easy on the ears, but harder on the brain. The temptation to just point to the embedded track and say “listen to this” instead of attempting to corner exactly what Stench is up to is quite tempting, but we’ll give ‘er a go anyhoo…
Upon first spin, Venture appears to fit into the forward thinking death metal of contemporary Sweden, but further investigation reveals that there is a real individuality at work here. First and definitely foremost, much of Venture isn’t exactly identifiable as capital-D Death Metal, despite that being the dominant vibe of the album. Much of it eschews dense rhythm guitars in favor of jangled, layered, almost grungy lead lines, while there is a natural, snare-happy drum performance that also adds to the rock and punk flavors. Call it proggy-crusty-punky-deathish metal, if you will. But mostly, call it fun.
In this not-clearly-identifiable-as-death-metal-but-undeniably-appealing sense, Stench bears a noticeable similarity to countrymen such as Tribulation or Morbus Chron, but they possess neither the sprawling atmosphere of the former nor the emphasis on progressive songwriting as the latter. Really, they’re kind of a version of those bands for folks with a shorter attention span that might also want something with a touch more nasty attitude.
But mostly, Venture just plain rocks. From the heavier bottom end of “Small Death” and heavily echoed, shredded vocals in that same song to the instrumental fun of “Way” and blistering tremolo lines in the closing title track, there is a surprising amount of variety stuffed into these 38 minutes. Plus, there is zero of the robotic precision of so much technical death metal, providing the album with a looseness and group chemistry that gives the impression of being recorded live in the studio. In this way, it’s not hard to imagine Stench veering off into some heavy jam session. A clear yet deep production adds to this vibe, providing the killer drum performance with a ton of punch, while the equally great bass has a thick, rubbery thump.
The immediacy of Venture means that it might not quite have the legs or obsessive depth as the latest albums from Stench’s aforementioned countrymen, but to the right listener, this may actually offer more appeal. The band brutally jingle-jangles their way through this rollickin’ album, and successfully find a midpoint between the forward thinking movement currently happening in their country and a desire to keep it all mean. So if that sounds like your bag, hop right on these cross-pollenating riffs.
