Swedish Punk Veterans Venerea Put Out a Blast From The Past LP with Euro Trash
4.6 out of 5 stars
I will say I have been a fan of rock music and punk music for a very long time, but I can say I had never had the opportunity to hear Swedish skate-punk band Venerea to this point in my life which is a shame, because these guys absolutely shred.
They have been around since 1991, and have released 6 or 7 albums from what I can find, but the Malmo-based band has seemingly yet cracked through a mass scale to the U.S. I think that may be changing this fall.
Their new album Euro Trash (out this Friday, August 26th) is as good of a skate punk album as has come out in the past few years. It reminds me of Urethane’s Chasing Horizons that came out in 2021, but faster in many instances.
The lead single “Summer of ‘94” really brings back all the nostalgia including having guest vocals from Scandinavian punkers Nikola Sarcevic (Millencolin), Ingemar Jansson (No Fun At All), and Geir Pedersen (Adhesive).
It is fast, fun and all sorts of punk as well. The music video highlights the skateboarding scene that helped shape the 90’s punk wave as well.
The rest of the album is by no means a drop off from that song either.
Starting with “Chanson d’Amour” (French for “A Love Song”) it is clear that these guys aren’t messing around. It’s a love song seemingly, but then it also seems like a war song.
A bit of “love and war” wrapped up in one song - seems about right for anyone who is in a long-term relationship. In fact, I don’t know if this was a mistake or not, but in the press information I initially received the song actually had “d’Armour” in the title. Coincidence?
“A Case of Corona” is probably self-explanatory in what the song is talking about, BUT 5 years ago, this would have been about beer, right? Well, this song is more about unity in times of crisis. This was what punk was all about back in the day, and to a large extent still is - just maybe with less “unity” songs.
The opening 10 seconds of songs like “The Nobodies” are so damn anthemic and over the top with a wall of sound that you know you can’t do anything but love it. The riffs and beats and harmonies are infectious in this song.
There are 16 songs on this album, and the whole thing could just as easily be the next Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtrack. It is pump-up music from start to finish.
Some of the songs are definitely more satirical like “My Kind of Stupid” and others are humorous like “Some Girls Don’t Like Misfits” and “My Imaginary Foe” while some are just straight-up, in-your-face messages like “Burning Every Bridge” and “DNA vs DIY” (which is like a 2-part song arc with “Diet Plan B”).
Some of the songs on this album are so fast that I can’t even fathom how they are played. I am going to go ahead and assume that Venerea has a bunch of demons and wizards in the band. That’s the only logical scenario.
I will make this short and sweet here, because I think if you like punk music, you are going to like this album, and since the album isn’t released just yet, there is no reason to try to overhype it to you, but it is awesome.
You definitely do want to check it out if you are a fan of bands like Pennywise, Millencolin, NOFX or Lagwagon. It’s right in that wheelhouse.