Venomous Concept—the punk band formed by Napalm Death’s Shane Embury and former Brutal Truth vocalist Kevin Sharp—are set to return with the most expansive, boundary-obliterating album to date, The Good Ship Lollipop. The group’s fifth full length received an exclusive North American vinyl and cassette release through Decibel Records on February 24, 2023 (and is available now).
“When the pandemic hit, we decided we needed to make an album that didn’t fit,” says Embry. “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.”
The Good Ship Lollipop—which finds Sharp and Embury joined by fellow Napalm Death guitarist John Cooke alongside Carl Stokes, former drummer of U.K. death metal legends Cancer—is anything but the repetitive, as evidenced by the album’s anthemic first three singles, “Voices,” “Timeline” and Fractured.”
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 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.”
Tracklist:
1. The Good Ship Lollipop
2. Timeline
3. Slack Jaw
4. Pig
5. Clinical
6. Fractured
7. Voices
8. So Sick
9. Flowers Bloom
10. The Humble Crow
11. Can’t Lose
12. Everything is Endlessness
13. Life’s Winter
The Good Ship Lollipop is available in the following limited-edition formats from Decibel Records:
The Good Ship Lollipop is also available in the following formats from Graphite Records in the U.K.
Standard Black Vinyl
Exclusive CD edition
Digital edition (worldwide)
