The Venomous Pinks Become Punk Rock Standouts with Debut Album Vita Mors
4.6 out of 5 stars
Mesa, Arizona is home to some really talented musicians. Most notably, Jimmy Eat World is from this city. So are punk rock headliners, Authority Zero.
The Venomous Pinks are adding to the list of talent popping up as well with their new album Vita Mors (Latin for “life or death”).
The album came out on June 3rd, and it has become a must listen punk rock album of 2022 in very short order.
The first song on the album is “Mercy” which is just a high energy punk rock anthem. It is high on my list of favorite songs on this album. I am not sure I can pick a single one though.
Ripping guitars from lead singer/lead guitarist Drea Doll really pushes the pace and has great vocals that can range from true singing to punk rocking growls.
Gaby Kaos on bass and Cassie Jalilie on drums really hold down the rhythm section and throw in some pretty technical stuff during the course of the album that will have you raise an eyebrow here or there with the thought, “Ah, that’s a rad riff.” Or whatever you may be thinking in your head. I don’t know what you’re thinking.
“I Really Don’t Care” is another anthemic song with a very repetitive (but fun) chorus singing the title. Linh Le from Bad Cop Bad Cop makes a special appearance on the song as well.
“No Rules” is the lead single and music video debut of the album ("Apothecary Ailment" and "Broken Hearts Club" have videos as well), and both the song and video are pretty great. It’s definitely one of the songs on the album that will catch your ear. Definitely a radio-ready song that combines gang vocals and easy to sing lyrics will have you singing along before the end of the song.
Brenna Red (The Last Gang) joins the band on “We Do It Better.” The song is about how they play punk music better than a lot of other bands, and that’s why they are doing what they do (not because they are women).
Just to speak to that sentiment for a moment, in my opinion, there have already been some really great female-led bands in the history of punk music, but both punk and indie rock seem to have a massive surge of female talent right now. It’s exciting to see that women are actually bringing new life to rock music in general these days. Definitely a good sign for the future of music.
So many of the songs on this album are infectious and with backing vocals that have “oohs,” “ahhs,” “la la las,” and catchy simple lyrics, you will be signing along to so many of these songs.
Oh, and the absolutely crisp recording and production led by legendary punk producer, Cameron Webb, you will not be disappointed at any point in the sound of the album.
“Broken Hearts Club” is a damn banger as well with perfect vocal harmonies and great individual and group efforts on the music side, it is probably the perfect example of a song by The Venomous Pinks. You will not be disappointed by this song at all. So damn good.
I also really like “Hold On” as it has some great harmonies in there as well.
Most of the music would be considered straightforward punk rock, but then there will be some pretty raging guitar solos or walking bass lines that really add their own stamp on punk rock.
The song “Todos Unidos” has Efrem Schulz from Death By Stereo singing a guest spot as well which makes him the only male vocalist to appear on the album.
This song is probably the most “punk” song on the whole album with the music, the gravelly vocals, and the subject matter of standing up against the government and other people in power.
Definitely check this album out as it is one of the best of the year.