Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.Venial Sin was formed in late 2008. The original members were Hélder Vasconcelos in drums, Pedro Matos in lead guitar, Victor Ferreira in bass, Óscar Medeiros in the keyboards and Nelson Rodrigues in vocals.
With this line-up we recorded, in April 2009, our first demo cd entitled "World Reset” which has four original songs.
Later in 2009, Pedro Cardoso joined the band as the rhythm guitar player and Victor left the band, being replaced by Luís Oliveira.
With this formation we started a small tour in Portugal and Spain to promote our demo cd.
In the end of this year, we will start recording our first EP.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Venial Sin’s music doesn’t fit in one music style, but covers a wide range of sonorities from death and black metal brutality to a melodic progressive and experimental trace that creates a dark atmosphere.
The most important influences in our music…?? Probably Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Cannibal Corpse, Pink Floyd, Camel, Immortal, among many others.
However, we try not to copy or "reproduce” these bands. We try to create a 100% original sound, avoiding stereotypes.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
We believe that our originality will please most of the metalheads that walk around the Earth. It’s mind-blowing!!!!
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
Until now we have released the "World Reset” demo and a few videos from our gigs.
Our demo songs entered in 3 worldwide compilations from Imperative Music, with a very positive feedback from the public and Imperative Music itself. The demo has also been played in several online metal radios across Europe as fans can see in the myspace band´s blog.
We had also a review of World Reset from austrian and german metal underground webzine available on www.metalunderground.at/venial_sin_-_world_reset.html.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
Yes, we play live as well. We started performing live in April 2010 and we played for about 10 times. We have been playing in Metal Fests around Portugal and Spain, band contests and gigs with bands like Altar of Plagues or Biolence.
In 2011, we will play at the Wacken Metal Battle and we will release more gig dates very soon.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?Well, they should know that we don’t have any contract, which means that we are open to any proposals, and that we are looking for a label that is willing to sign with us.
We think that our music will be able to reach a large number of people and that we work hard to compose new songs and give a hell of a gig!
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
In December 2010 we will start recording our EP in the Blind & Lost Studios that will be mastered by Dan Swano at Unisound Studios, in Sweden. The EP will have around 8 songs, including a second recording from demo songs and also the new ones.
The EP is scheduled to be released in the Spring 2011, and then we will start another round of gigs in order to promote it.
In 2011 we will participate in the Wacken Metal Battle 2011, as mentioned before, and we will have a mini tour to promote the EP, with gigs in Portugal, Spain, Germany and Austria.
We are also going to continue the process of song writing and try to sign a contract with a label to record our first album.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Our music is available in our myspace (www.myspace.com/TheVenialSin), Reverbnation (www.reverbnation.com/VenialSin), Facebook (www.facebook.com/TheVenialSin), Twitter (www.twitter.com/Venial_Sin), Vila Metal (www.vilametal.blogspot.com), Portugal Underground (www.portugalunderground.blogspot.com) to download or you can request our demo plus the Imperative Music compilation through the band’s e-mail.
For more information send us an e-mail to (venialsinmusic@gmail.com)
December 2010