Band:	Late Night Venture
Album:	V: Bones Of The Extinct
Style:	Doom metal, Post-metal
Release date:	March 2023

01. Hostile Nature
02. Mammut
03. Reappear
04. Hate Speech
05. Armed Warrior
06. Prognosis Negative

Late Night Venture are a new name to me in the world of post-metal, despite existing for close to 20 years and apparently being reputable enough to have a Wikipedia page. I’m not sure where they’ve been hiding, but the Danes have caught my attention with V: Bones Of The Extinct.

V: Bones Of The Extinct, as you might expect from the name, is the band’s fifth full-length record, coming after a 2006 self-titled debut that you’ll do well to find somewhere to listen to online, and then a space-themed trilogy in the 2010s. These records are stated to have some psychedelic space elements; this new album is seemingly more grounded, with Late Night Venture delivering bleak post-metal of a doomy persuasion.

If you’re wondering if there’s any post-metal bands in particular that could be having an influence on this record, literally the first chord of opening track “Hostile Nature” will make at least one source of inspiration very clear: Amenra. This isn’t going to be a repeat of my review of Lethvm’s new record in terms of comparisons to them, as the parallels aren’t so strong here, but guitar tones, both quiet and heavy, on this opening track are fairly unmistakeable in their origin, and the song’s more melancholic second half has a touch of “A Solitary Reign” to it tonally.

One way in which this song, and the album as a whole, deviates from the Belgian titans is in its use of electronics and keyboards. These are initially more textural in purpose on “Hostile Nature”, even if the higher-pitched tones take on some melodic responsibility. However, on “Mammut”, the electronic motifs within the menacing darkness of the surrounding metal really accentuate the tone, particularly as they become more prominent in the second half; without hitting the same levels of prominence or impact, their use positively reminds me of the excellent song “Cerberus IV” on last year’s Gloson album. Later in the record, “Armed Warrior” similarly exploits the potential of integrating electronics, albeit more so by using ‘sci-fi’ sound effects; this is the song on which a history of space-themed psychedelic writing can most obviously be heard.

Late Night Venture do revel in darkness and malevolence a lot on this album, but by no means exclusively so. A stark contrast to the opening two songs is “Reappear”, a spacious, subdued post-rock cut that has leans close to Somewhere Along The Highway-era Cult Of Luna in tone. The band don’t ever dive quite as extensively into their softer side on subsequent songs, but “Hate Speech” does have a rather dainty midsection sandwiched between more grim, trudging riffing.

I feel the album slightly loses its way after “Reappear”; the midsection of “Hate Speech” is nice, but the heavier parts are less remarkable, and I’m not all that keen on “Armed Warrior”. However, Late Night Venture pull it back at the end with a strong closing track, a proper brooder in the form of “Prognosis Negative” with some very effective subdued grooves and textures. There’s an aura of unease throughout this song, but the band predominantly hold back, allowing the malaise to lurk beneath the surface rather than unleashing sonic fury. It helps to restore my enthusiasm at the end of each playthrough back to the levels reached in the record’s first half, even if the level of V: Bones Of The Extinct as a whole is a shade or two below ‘excellent’.