Album review: VENREZ – Children Of The Drones

Monarch Music Group [Release date 24.04.15]

‘Children Of The Drones’ is the third album release by Venrez following their critically acclaimed secondalbum ‘American Illusion’ which found them supporting Slash and Alice Cooper amongst others. The band were formed back in 2011 by frontman Steven Berez (hence the venrez monicker) who met up with multi-instrumentalist Jason Womack and the pair formed a writing partnership almost immediately.

The guys are based on the west coast of America and have drawn their inspiration from the likes of Alice In Chains and the Doors to produce high quality Californian psychedelica. ‘Hang The Predator’ starts things off with a bang. This is a full on AIC like rocker right down to the twin vocals running throughout. Title track ‘Children Of The Drones’ follows and has a more straight forward approach, no nonsense rock with a big chorus.

The pair, together with Ed Davis on drums, seamlessly manage to flow from the faster, rockier tracks into more laid back and spaced out epics like ‘Mist Of Mercy’ with ease. The echoing guitar work of Womack is perfectly paced and pitched to carry you along on a rippling melodic wave.

Ven has a bit of a nasal drone to his vocal delivery which is ideal for this type of music and is put to good use on the track ‘Deep’. Apparently much has been made of Ven’s age as he only formed the band when he was in his fifties, but as the old saying goes, if it’s too loud, you’re too old, and listening to the album he sounds like he is in fine form.

‘Reflection’ is another slow paced track with a huge groove, whilst the second single from the album ‘Sacred Blood’ rounds things off in an almost hypnotic fashion containing a pulsating rhythm which is coupled with a chanting vocal from Ven, a very trippy track.

If you like your rock with a bit of a psychedelic tinge then this album is for you and following the success of ‘American Illusion’ I could see this moving Venrez to the next level. You’re never too old to rock ‘n’ roll! ***1/2

Review by Dave Wilson

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)