Danish post-metallers Late Night Venture will release their fifth long-player, V: Bones of the Extinct, on March 17 through Trepanation Recordings and Vinyltroll Records. The five-piece were last heard from with 2019’s Subcosmos, which completed a space-themed trilogy of albums, and it would seem that their return to earth has put them in a position of finding it wanting. To be fair, it has not been the planet’s best few years. Even before you get to the plague, it’s becoming easier every oddly-weathered day to believe we’re living through a climate apocalypse, and with jarring statistics about ecosystem collapse, a lack of moral or political will to do anything about it, and the cruelty inherent in the wealthy nations of the Global North telling the Global South essentially to eat (the North’s) shit, and then you have populism and social movements toward isolation and a closing of doors it once seemed so obvious needed to be open. “Hostile Nature” (premiering below) touches on some of these ideas, and it opens V: Bones of the Extinct with a blend of contemplative sadness and omnidirectional rage that, well, yes. You would be reasonable to call it a fit for the times.

The five-piece of guitarists Michael Falk (also vocals) and Søren Hartvig, bassist Jens Back, keyboardist/synthesist Jonas Qvesel and drummer Peter Falk make their sound all the more consuming for the incorporation of synth, as one can hear in the post-apocalyptic landscape survey in the midsection of the album opener and the swirls that top the inevitable return of the full volume onslaught. There’s some of Amenra‘s melancholy and an abidingly severe emotional mien that reminds of The Moth Gatherer and others who came up in the wake of Isis (Late Night Venture got their start in the mid-aughts), but the chug that caps “Hostile Nature” makes it plain that the intensity of V: Bones of the Extinct is a purposeful choice in direction, and as “Mammut” arrives with largesse enough to warrant the title, embodying the band’s stated move toward heavier, more crushing fare.

Shorter than the leadoff, “Mammut” has its own break/return, with a guitar solo twisting over the heavy finish, stainless despite all the dust and rust surrounding. It gives over to “Reappear” at the end of side A with a quieter rollout and some clean vocals from Falk, who will continue to showcase more than the barks that typified the first two tracks, and a tense but subdued build, coming slowly to its eventual payoff at 3:23 into the total 5:55, the full wash slow moving in the drums and melancholy in the guitars like the heavy post-rock of Red Sparowes, but darker and with an eventual return of vocals in the crash, a softer ending not quite mirroring the outset but bookending nonetheless.

At 8:10, the side B opener “Hate Speech” is the longest inclusion on the album — both sides start with their respective longest tracks; an effective play for listener immersion — and is quickly engaged in a tense chug offset by lead lines and punctuated with thud and crash alike, the at-first-absent synth/keys gets its moment as part of a wash that builds, recedes, then falls into a tense cinematic drone before slamming back into the initial chug at 5:35, the verse returning.

That tension never completely releases — nor should it, considering the apparent subject matter — but “Hate Speech” has its payoff moment and fades into quiet ahead of the synthier “Armed Warrior,” a semi-spoken verse over horror chug and keyboard, then just keyboard and guitar, floating away, coming back of its own accord, the structure familiar by this time but executed with a particularly open, canyon-esque echo before a few measures of that original chug finish out, the song about as barebones as Late Night Venture get here and efficient at less than four and a half minutes. This leaves “Prognosis Negative” to summarize the point of view of V: Bones of the Extinct, which it does even before the full-volume lumbering kicks in and the consuming nod of the verse, more extreme in the vocals with keyboard flourish as a subsequent counterpoint, takes hold.

Back‘s bass gets a standout moment in the quieter stretch, seeming to lead while the guitars explore the atmosphere surrounding, and though it’s never a question that they’re coming back for a last blowout surge of energy, getting there is satisfying as Falk‘s voice and the dense tones work to complement each other until that last roll begins in earnest. Even in the ‘big finish,’ there’s an air of post-rocking contemplation, a patience of delivery that lets the listener know Late Night Venture, if they so chose, could easily let their material spill over into chaos, but as one would expect and hope given their maturity as an outfit, they don’t.

Expressive drive is maintained even when marching into oblivion, which, when they get there, turns out to be not so bad after all. There is more persona on display throughout V: Bones of the Extinct than mourning for a better world that might’ve been, and the precision that underlies the weight of their tradeoffs in actual sound and mood alike is not to be glossed over. Their reach is as broad as the ending of “Prognosis Negative” is dire, and if the abiding message of the collection is that we as humans did it to ourselves, to each other, then the only question left to ask if perhaps we aren’t the bones referred to in the title.

The “Hostile Nature” video premieres below, followed by some more comment from the band and info on the album.

Please enjoy:

Late Night Venture, “Hostile Nature” video premiere

Michael Falk on “Hostile Nature”:

“I guess we’re trying to say something about human nature’s encounter with the elements. About how we are trying to convince ourselves that we can tame the forces of nature with ideas. But it seems that neither mankind nor the planet will respect any warnings. Reality is overshadowed by concepts.”

Out March 17 2023 on Trepanation Recordings / Vinyltroll Records

LATE NIGHT VENTURE was formed in 2006 and released its eponymous debut album the same year. In 2012, the band commenced on its ‘cosmic trilogy’ with the sophomore album ‘Pioneers of Spaceflight’, followed by ‘Tychonians’ in 2015 and completed with ‘Subcosmos’ in 2019. Along the way, LATE NIGHT VENTURE has refined its post-metallic sound rounded off by the band’s poetic, Scandinavian clinging expression while playing more than 400 shows all over Europe.

While creating ‘V: Bones Of The Extinct’, LATE NIGHT VENTURE deliberately labored towards making the music more direct than before. This approach has resulted in six sharply cut compositions, where the post rock elements are downplayed and songwriting and riffs are the focal points. The band’s vivid and gritty aesthetics are intact and as always the band recorded the music live. As a whole, the album presents itself as the band’s most heavy, angry and focused work to date.

‘Bones Of The Extinct’ is a text excerpt establishing a framework for the album and its songs, which individually are images of unforeseen occurrences with irreversible consequences. The lyrics cast their gaze upon the world and can be characterized as grounded doomsday stories about conditions, which more or less concern all beings on the planet. This gaze is directed towards mankind and its nature, all our efforts in this world – and the consequences of our urge. ‘Bones Of The Extinct’ is an image of us watching the bones of ourselves; watching the consequences of our emotions, words and actions. One day, our history will lay scattered as the bones of the extinct – not least, if we remain on the current path determined by the greedy, prideful and vain.

‘V: Bones Of The Extinct’ is produced by Patrick Fragtrup in Sweet Silence Studios (Metallica, Morbid Angel, Mew), mastered by Brad Boatright in Audiosiege and carries artwork by Morten Grønnegaard.

LATE NIGHT VENTURE – V: Bones Of The Extinct
Track list:
1. Hostile Nature
2. Mammut
3. Reappear
4. Hate Speech
5. Armed Warrior
6. Prognosis Negative

LATE NIGHT VENTURE will play four March dates alongside fellow Danes sludge metal trio Dirt Forge and post hardcore-combo Kollaps\e, including shows in Denmark, Norway and Germany.

LATE NIGHT VENTURE Live 2023:
22.03.23 – Vaterland, Oslo (NO)
23.03.23 – 1000Fryd, Aalborg (DK)
24.03.23 – Frølageret, Odense (DK)
25.03.23 – Tommy-Weisbecker-Haus, Berlin (DE)

Music: Late Night Venture
Lyrics: Michael Falk & Jonas Qvesel
Producer: Patrick Fragtrup / Wolf Rider Sound Production & Late Night Venture
Mix: Patrick Fragtrup / Wolf Rider Sound Production
Mastering: Brad Boatright / Audiosiege
Artwork: Morten Grønnegaard

Late Night Venture is:
Michael Falk: Guitar & Vocals
Jonas Qvesel: Synth & Keys
Peter Falk: Drums
Søren Hartvig: Guitar
Jens Back: Bass

Late Night Venture on Facebook

Late Night Venture on Instagram

Late Night Venture on Bandcamp

Late Night Venture website

Trepanation Recordings on Facebook

Trepanation Recordings on Instagram

Trepanation Recordings on Bandcamp

Vinyltroll Records on Facebook

Vinyltroll Records on Instagram

Vinyltroll Records website

One might think that Subcosmos, in a trilogy of records about mankind, life and space, is the one about space. Wrong-o. It’s the mankind one, which as far as I’m concerned should probably make it the most brutal of the three offerings from Danish post-metallers Late Night Venture. Going from the album trailer — which I admit isn’t much to go on — it just might be, though neither 2016’s Tychonians nor 2012’s Pioneers of Spaceflight was exactly wanting for impact. If perhaps there’s some darker atmospheric turn, that might convey the shift in thematic, but hey, who knows, maybe Late Night Venture see our place in the universe and are hopeful about the forward potentiality of the species. Maybe it’ll all be okay. Utopia, not dystopia. It might be a nice change at this point were that the case.

I don’t know that it is or isn’t, as of course I haven’t heard the record, but it’s out Nov. 1 through Czar of Crickets, as the PR wire informs:

Post-metal combo LATE NIGHT VENTURE announces new album ‘Subcosmos’

Danish post metal quartet LATE NIGHT VENTURE has completed their fourth album ‘Subcosmos’ which is the third and last chapter of their cosmic trilogy about mankind, life and space. Now, the band posts a trailer for the album set for November 1st release, and the release is followed by a November headliner show in Copenhagen.

They have travelled a long way, both as individuals and as a unit. The band released their self-titled debut album back in 2006 and after a series of personnel changes, the current line-up assumed form and released ‘Pioneers of Spaceflight’ (2012) followed by ‘Tychonians’ (2015). These two albums took their cue from shoegaze and post-rock and unfolded narratives of the universe, man’s encounter with it and the questions of both scientific and existential observance, that emerge from such contemplation.

As where the first two records positions itself from an observing standpoint, the new record ‘Subcosmos’ is a highly personal work. Also, the music has shifted its focus as the band has moved towards a heavier post-metallic sound and expression. Throughout the album’s seven compositions, LATE NIGHT VENTURE stands tall with its chilling Scandinavian vibe, the use of unexpected elements such as glockenspiel, analogue synths and field recordings as well as the momentary utilization of the Danish language as a narrating element in the tight arrangements. Once more, LATE NIGHT VENTURE has worked with on of Denmark’s most original and profilic producers Lasse Ballade (Halshug, Slægt, Solbrud m.fl.) in his Copenhagen studio, where the band has recorded the album in a live setting resulting in a vibrant and intense outcome.

‘Subcosmos’ is the third and concluding chapter in LATE NIGHT VENTURE’s cosmic trilogy, and as such a part of the band’s meditation on mankind, life and the universe, in which this life unfolds. ‘Pioneers…’ took its point of departure in pure fascination of space travel and retro sci-fi and is the grand wondering gaze into space through the eyes of man. ‘Tychonians’ is an homage to the big Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, taking us from space travels and down to earth to the scientific human occupied with understanding the physical world and our origins. With ‘Subcosmos’, we are landing firmly on Earth among the human species. On this album, the band looks within, into their own microcosmos, a universe, which we all experience – a life lived at a specific place in a specific period of time. The record is a dark and enticing journey into a dystopian suburban past. Inspired by the band members´ own early life in the failed utopia of late-seventies concrete suburbia, “Subcosmos” dives into the tumultuous state of mind of teenage misantrophy and the occasional escape into substance and music.

‘Subcosmos’ is going to be released on November 1st 2019 as LP, CD, Cassette and digital formats as a co-release between Swiss alternative metal label Czar Of Crickets Productions and the Danish label Virkelighedsfjern. LATE NIGHT VENTURE has just announced a co-headlining show alongside post-rockers The Shaking Sensations on Vega in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 23rd.

More announcements of November shows in Denmark and abroad will follow within near future.

LATE NIGHT VENTURE live 2019
23.11.2019: DK-Copenhagen, Lille VEGA, w/ The Shaking Sensation

‘Subcosmos’ Track list:
1. Far From The Light
2. Bloodlines
3. 2630
4. Desolate Shelter
5. Subcosmos
6. No None Fought You
7. No Burning Ground

www.latenightventure.com
www.facebook.com/latenightventure
https://latenightventure.bandcamp.com/
www.czarofcrickets.com
www.facebook.com/czarofcrickets

Late Night Venture, Subcosmos album trailer