PRIMEVIL Frontman Says Comparisons To VENOM Are 'Inevitable'

Spiritcrusher of Metality recently conducted an interview with Tony "The Demolition Man" Dolan (bass, vocals) about PRIMEVIL — the new band he formed with fellow former VENOM members Jeff "Mantas" Dunn (guitar) and Antony "Antton" Lant (drums; brother of VENOM frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metality: First of all, what inspired the formation of PRIMEVIL? VENOM fans will know that "Prime Evil" is the first album with your involvement. How would you describe the sound of PRIMEVIL as opposed to the sound of VENOM?

Tony: Well, I think it came about as Mantas and Antton who were both doing separate music projects (DRYLL and DEF-CON-ONE) came together in DRYLL. Mantas needed a drummer and Antton offered his services. People kept wondering what it would be like if Mantas and Antton played with me and it was kind of, "Oh, yeah that would be fun perhaps," but then DRYLL played a show and performed the VENOM track "Black Metal" [with Antton] and that was kind of it. People started saying I had to come in and play, too. So I got a phone call and had a few chats with Mantas and that was that; we decided we'd see if it worked. It does, very well, but then again myself and Mantas have always been friends and played well together. The addition of a drummer as good as Antton was something too cool to pass up! The name we decided should be chosen by the fans who wanted this to happen. The first VENOM album I did was "Prime Evil" in 1989 and that was the name the fans chose for this band. PRIMEVIL is old school, I guess, melodic, heavy, powerful. [As to how PRIMEVIL is] different from VENOM, [I'm] not sure. We will inevitably be compared, as we are all ex-VENOM [members] and, of course, Mantas was the main songwriter for VENOM, so... But I feel we are more like classic metal. MOTÖRHEAD, BLACK SABBATH.... PRIEST and VENOM.

Metality: You guys have a few tracks up on your MySpace account, and they sound excellent! Can we expect an EP or an album coming up in 2011?

Tony: Thanks. Yeah, (we have) a few trax around. "The 8th Gate", the follow-up to VENOM's "7th Gate", "Hellspawn", a song dedicated to our fans, "Hell To The Holy", the title track for the new/debut album, and "Wake Up Dead". The idea is to release a vinyl through Iron Pegasus around February 2011, featuring six tracks — four covers of songs that influenced us to do what we do and two new PRIMEVIL tracks. In March we will release the full album, "Hell To The Holy", through an as-yet-undisclosed label.

Metality: Can we expect any national or regional tours by PRIMEVIL?

Tony: Yes, from March 2011 the plan is to begin touring and not stop until we have been everywhere we want to play.

Read the entire interview from Metality.

PRIMEVIL is streaming four tracks in full via its official MySpace page:

* Wake Up Dead
* The 8th Gate
* Hellspawn
* Hell To The Holy

PRIMEVIL will make its live debut on March 12, 2011 at the Metal Forces Festival XIV at Festhalle in Haltingen, Germany.

A new video interview with PRIMEVIL can be viewed in three parts:

* Part#1
* Part#2
* Part#3

"Prime Evil" was the name of VENOM's sixth studio album, which came out in 1989 and was the first to feature Dolan on vocals.