Venom Prison Samsara

Ahead of their upcoming album Samsara, U.K. death-metal rabble rousers Venom Prison have unleashed a vicious new song titled "Uterine Industrialisation" and accompanied it with a stomach-churning video to highlight the violent nature and traumatic effect of forced pregnancy. Vocalist Larissa Stupar takes center stage in the clip as a pregnant young woman who peacefully reads a book alone when a shift in the lighting occurs and suddenly her worst nightmares come to life. After attempting to drink from a sink the pours red-tinged liquid instead of water, Stupar stumbles outside clutching her pregnant belly as it begins to ooze blood in a moment of pure body horror.

Interspersed throughout are flashes of the full group performing in a crimson-lit church, shredding through ferocious riffs and weighted breakdowns while standing before the stained glass window of a high-ceiling church. Stupar's fiery performance remains the focal point in this scene, as well, exhibiting the full range of fury present when gutturally attacking the political lava that is the abortion debate.

Things begin to get even stranger when the singer is then accosted by several spine-chilling nuns who "rescue" Stupar only to engage in a tug of war with her over her child once it is born. As the dead-eyed lead sits among a throng of the evil sisters, a thorny crown adorns her head. Throughout this visual ordeal, Stupar maintains her strong composure and escapes the prying nuns only to wake up a short time later to discover it was all just a horrible, gory dream. "Being feminine or fragile does not translate into being weak," Stupar wrote in a recent Revolver op-ed, and her performance here as both ethereal virgin mother, savage frontwoman and powerful fighter coalesce beautifully to illustrate this point.

The upcoming album promises more of this sort of politically charged insanity, with a harder edge and more diversified sonic approach than the band's previous material. As stated by guitarist Ash Gray, "Samsara is more aggressive, yet unashamed of dynamics. It recognizes that to in order to feel impact you must have suspense." Fellow guitarist Ben Thomas adds, "To feel the hate and aggression behind low-ended discord you must feel the relief of layered melodic swells."

1. Matriphagy
2. Megillus & Leana
3. Uterine Industrialisation
4. Self Inflicted Violence
5. Deva's Enemy
6. Asura's Realm
7. Sadistic Rituals
8. Implementing The Metaphysics of Morals
9. Dukkha
10. Naraka