Venomous Concept - the punk band formed by Napalm Death's Shane Embury and former Brutal Truth vocalist Kevin Sharp - are set to return with their most expansive, boundary-obliterating album to-date, The Good Ship Lollipop, due out February 24 via Decibel Records.
For a preview of The Good Ship Lollipop, the album's anthemic first single, "Voices", can be heard below. It finds Sharp and Embury joined by fellow Napalm Death guitarist John Cooke alongside Carl Stokes, former drummer of U.K. death metal legends Cancer.
The group's fifth full-length will receive an exclusive North American vinyl and cassette release through Decibel Records, which is available for pre-order here in the following limited-edition formats:
- Glow-in-the-Dark(ness) Blue Vinyl (limited to 100 copies)
- Lollipop Pink Vinyl (limited to 200 copies)
- Hazy Weed Vinyl (limited to 200 copies)
- Lollipop Pink Cassette Shell Tape (limited to 100 copies)
Engineered by Piers Mortimer (Deep Purple) and produced by long-time friend and soundman Simon Efemey (Paradise Lost, Amorphis), the record was challengingly recorded during the height of the pandemic in 2020.
"It was an amazing fun and creative experience, recording while there were COVID restrictions," Embury offers. "We seem to only now dimly recall the whole process but this record lives it and breathes it...When the pandemic hit, we decided we needed to make an album that didn't fit. We all loved so much other kind of punk and rock, so why not explore that which is, in essence, closer to our hearts? To do the same album over and over again would be boring."
"When Decibel released the Deadguy live record [Buyer's Remorse] this year, my gears turned," says Sharp. "Having supported the band in print and via flexi disc, we were stoked to see [Decibel editor] Albert [Mudrian]'s interest in this VC record. It's a different kind record and deserves a different kind of approach. The music industry is in constant evolution and this approach to getting our music out seems like a good fit amongst old friends on our terms."
The Good Ship Lollipop is also available in the following formats from Graphite Records in the UK:
- Standard Black Vinyl
- Exclusive CD edition
- Digital edition (worldwide)
The Good Ship Lollipop tracklisting:
"The Good Ship Lollipop"
"Timeline"
"Slack Jaw"
"Pig"
"Clinical"
"Fractured"
"Voices"
"So Sick"
"Flowers Bloom"
"The Humble Crow"
"Can’t Lose"
"Everything is Endlessness"
"Life’s Winter"
"Voices":
Venomous Concept lineup:
Shane Embury - bass
Kevin Sharp - vocals
John Cooke - guitars
Carl Stokes - drums
