Suppose the spirit of Dorothy Vallens from David Lynch’s surrealist, noir classic Blue Velvet could be transported into a Trip-hop-inspired, dark, Electro-Rock album in 2025. In that case, it’s hard to think of a more fitting home than To Cross Or To Burn (Ipecac Recordings) – by Paula and Dave Lombardo under their Venamoris moniker. 

Largely written, performed and recorded by the pair in their home studio (with a few choice guest spots), To Cross Or To Burn sees the Lombardos advance from their highly enjoyable (though perhaps less assured) debut Drown In Emotion, with a record that is dark, evocative, mysterious and menacing. 

While the one-time Nashville singer/songwriter Paula Lombardo seemed to be searching for her new musical identity on the band’s debut (the album featuring a breadth of tones and styles and moods), To Cross Or To Burn feels like the moment where Paula (and Venamoris) figure out exactly what kind of musical creature they are.

The vulnerability that can be heard in the duo’s debut has been refined and reduced. It’s still there in tracks like the album’s opening ballad “Stay With Me” — minimal with Paula’s hushed notes of longing, accompanied by contrabass (courtesy of Trevor Dunn), before noirish synths as strings add an extra dark, cinematic layer. 

But while Paula’s lyrics may at times portray her as the heroine in peril, surrounded by a world of wolves, there’s a steelyness to her delivery (beautifully matched by Dave Lombardo’s arrangements and moody, atmospheric production) which makes the overall impression for the listener one where you feel as though Venamoris is the spider pulling you into its web.

Perhaps nowhere is this more effectively delivered than on the dark seduction of “In The Shadows,” this brooding track expertly finding that electro-rock domain of danger and eroticism that Depeche Mode made their home on Songs of Faith And Devotion thirty years ago. 

Talking of spider webs, “Spiderweb” follows a similar path and while Paula sings of being the one trapped in the web, nevertheless it still feels like the listener is the one in peril. 

Having picked up many a musical trick from his long-time collaborator Mike Patton, Dave seems to have taken notes out of the Peeping Tom playbook here (and elsewhere like “Truth” and the closing title track) with the songs blending together elements of jazz-bar showtunes, seventies-spy-movie-soundtrack mystery and Hip Hop. It’s all working away in the shadows (so to speak). 

As a mark of how effectively the duo have found their voice, the more guitar-driven Scorpions cover of “Animal Magnetism” (featuring Exodus/Slayer axe-man Gary Holt) slots right into place — the track built around a stalking, industrialised rhythm and heightening the sense that seduction may very well come with mortal danger. 

To Cross Or To Burn is a dark seduction indeed and most effective. If I am to wake with a knife driven deep into my heart, so be it.     

Buy the album here:
https://venamoris.bandcamp.com/album/to-cross-or-to-burn 

9 / 10
TOM OSMAN
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