PRIMEVIL Signs With SCARLET RECORDS

PRIMEVIL the new band featuring former VENOM members Jeff "Mantas" Dunn (guitar),Antony "Antton" Lant (drums; brother of VENOM frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant) and Tony "The Demolition Man" Dolan (bass, vocals) has inked a deal with Scarlet Records. The group's debut mini-album, "The Creatures Of The Black", will be released this summer. The CD will feature cover versions of four songs that influenced the members of PRIMEVIL ("Exciter" by JUDAS PRIEST, "God Of Thunder" by KISS, "Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be" by AC/DC and "Motrhead" by MOTRHEAD) plus two brand new original tracks, "The Creatures Of The Black" and "Reptile". A full-length effort will follow sometime in September/October, with a full tour planned for 2012.

In other news, PRIMEVIL has launched a new official web site created by John Parry, who also runs the long-running VENOM fan site SiteOfTheHydra.com, and Kostas Antonatos, who ran the official VENOM fan club and the official VENOM web site for many years.

In a recent interview with Metality, Dolan stated about the formation of PRIMEVIL,"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. MOTRHEAD, BLACK SABBATH.... PRIEST and VENOM."

A 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.