Any fan of heavy music who’s worth his salt will know the names of Dan Lorenzo and Johnny Kelly. Dan was the riff master behind Hades, Non-Fiction, and The Cursed (featuring Overkill’s Bobby Blitz on vocals). He is currently the mastermind behind Vessel of Light, Cassius King and Patriarchs In Black. Johnny is best known as the drummer for Type O Negative, but has also performed with A Pale Horse Named Death, Kill Devil Hill, Danzig, Quiet Riot, and is Dan’s partner in Patriarchs In Black. We’re here today to discuss the first single, “Veneration (featuring D.M.C.)”, which appears on their upcoming sophomore album, My Veneration.
Artist: Patriarchs In Black
Release Name: Veneration (single)
Label: MDD Records
Release Date: August 5th, 2023
Location: United States
Genres: Heavy Metal, Doom, Stoner, Hard Rock
Written By: Tom Hanno/Tom’s Reviews
Personnel For This Track:
Dan Lorenzo – Guitars
Johnny Kelly – Drums
Anthony Vitti – Bass (Hades 1982, and now the Professor of bass at the Berklee School of Music)
Mark Sunshine – Vocals
D.M.C. (Darryl Matthews McDaniels) – Rap Vocals
Emma Smoler – Violin
Dan and I have been in touch for a few years now, beginning around the time the second Vessel Of Light album came out in 2018. He recently sent me an email regarding “Veneration”, which is the first single from their upcoming record, and I was more than happy to hook him up with a review of it.
“Veneration” features the one and only D.M.C of the legendary rap group known as Run D.M.C. I was intrigued by his inclusion, and questioned Dan as to how this came about.
“I met DMC earlier this year when he and I were featured together on an original section of the cover tune Jungle Love on Tom Hunting’s (Exodus) solo album. DMC recorded a rap and (Hunting Project drummer) Craig Cefola asked me to write a guitar riff under what DMC had already recorded, and I came up with something in one sitting, then I met Darryl for the video shoot. I asked him if I could send him some of my music to see if he might want to do something with Patriarchs In Black.”
Dan Lorenzo
D.M.C. goes on to say that …
“When I met Dan for the Tom Hunting song, we had so much fun and he told me about Patriarchs In Black. He asked if I would be interested in doing something with them … He told me who was rocking with him and I was like “Hell Yeah!” When he sent me the song it just spoke to me and was so definitive of my journey in music.”
D.M.C. (Darryl Matthews McDaniels)
The song begins with Emma’s beautiful violin work, which is soon joined by Dan’s guitar. The mixture of sounds is wonderful, as is Dan’s choice of chord voicing, which is different from what we normally hear from him.
Mark kicks off the first verse, and I’m loving his vocal style, which pulls influences from Robert Plant, Dio, Layne Staley, and Andrew Wood. In the second half of the verse Dan reverts into his more Doomy, Black Sabbath oriented style, with the riff supplying the perfect groove for D.M.C. to flow over.
Now we get to talk about the contributions of D.M.C., whose rap sections are incredibly strong. I have always enjoyed old Run D.M.C., and I still love Darryl’s flow and approach to vocals. What he does matches up with Mark’s in an ear pleasing way, making me think that this song wouldn’t be as good without Darryl on it.
Speaking of Mark, there’s also a bridge section after the second verse where he pulls off a Robert Plant series of vocal wails, and they’re absolutely fantastic! This is quite fitting for the track, as those chord voicings that I mentioned earlier have a Led Zeppelin/Jimmy Page vibe to them. Mark utilizes them again when he and D.M.C. trade off vocals before the last chorus that ends the track, and looking back on many listens, I can safely assure the readers of Cave Dweller Music that this is one of the better singles from the month of August.
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