Yup, Abaddon is replaced by Cronos'brother Antton on drums and gone is the anarchic, quasi punk-metal drum playing. Venom drop their usual trademark sound to pick up conventional 90's metal influences like Pantera, some grungey melodic lines (anathema ! ) and the result is, except for a few good songs, an almost boring chugga-chugga macho-power-groove record....with satanic lyrics. Everything sounds restrained now; the production is slicker but the upper treble is muffled on half of the tracks. The double bass-drums are abused and very high in the mix, lots of impact but devoid of real emotion; Cronos singing is not as OTT as we're used to and Mantas guitar is crunchy and has lost that ¨acid ¨sound it used to have. Don't get me wrong, I love these guys and own all of their records, and have nothing against style changes as long as they're innovative and not rip-offs of bands/styles I'm not fond of. After all, bands who never change styles end up recording the same thing over and over; Maiden- Ac Dc anyone ?
Search the bargain bins IF you're a Venom completist. Otherwise, get Cast In Stone, you'll be so much better off .