Metal Reviews

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WOT? This hadn't been reviewed yet? WOW!
Good job mr Bouc, You're a chef!

Well deserved and well done, sir.

I remember listening to this album during my Geometry class in High school, and nodding my head back and forth looking like a retard while listening to the titletrack and Raise the Dead. I've covered the titletrack so many times with my old band, and this album gets a lot of love probably second only to how much I play my Bathory cds. Venom were quintessential grit and aggression in the early days that I'll never experience, but the music still has the power and dirty quality that it had in those early days. I love this album



TO HELLLLLLL ANNNDDD BAACCKKKKK!!!

I remember listening to it at a friend's house whose big brother had ordered it from UK, it hadn't been released in France yet. It was so loud, so raw, so fucked up, we loved it instantly!

Not my thing when it comes to NWOBHM.

This is not NWOBHM, same time, different sound altogether. This is a sped-up rawer, dirtier Motorhead and it's sweeeeet.

Haha, I bought this in late 83 / early 84 (can't remember) based on the cover (front and back) alone.

Still as good today as it was then.

S-A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E!

Venom is pretty much the best. I'm a bigger fan of Welcome to Hell but this album is still fucking tops. Countess Bathory..... fuck yes.

About effing time you lads reviewed this one. It is after all one of the most influential metal albums ever released.

Nice review too - made me want to crank it loud!

No mention of Bloodlust (leftover B-side along with In Nomine Satanas that somehow wound up on this album), probably their best track. Though technically not part of the album it was on the original vinyl release. As raw and wicked as any second wave and beyond black metal, with a distinct London after midnight vibe.

Regarding whether or not Venom are NWOBHM, technically that is what they are; of course the elements of punk's snotty fuck off attitude, the high energy of Motorhead and the blatantly over the top Satanic image (complete with stage pyrotechnics) made them something just a little different. Take Cronos' cavernous vox (which I liken to a man on fire singing in the rain) and you have something that has never been heard before 1981 / 1982.
The fact is, this album has a shitload of hooks that implant themselves into your grey matter and refuse to let go, giving it that timeless aspect.

I always considered this album (along with Welcome To Hell) as a litmus test for determining who are poseurs and who are not.

Anybody that focuses solely on the musical ability misses the entire point (and to be fair the only truly bad musician is Abaddon. Mantas (Chainsaw dives), while obviously not on the same level as Vai, is still effective and is able to belt out some decent leads, and Cronos... well Cronos is credited as the rabid captor of bestial malevolence... were you expecting something pretty?); there is a vitality here (legitimate vitality and not the pseudo, trying too hard version of today's "extreme" artists) that has sadly gone the way of the bullet belt.

Couldn't agree more.

Being one of the senior members here, I'm sure the perspective of the time of this albums release isn't lost on you, so you know how it was when this first hit the record stores.
They never were able to match this or it's predecessor, though Possessed isn't half bad. At War With Satan (title track) has some good riffs, but it suffers from being not quite up to speed... I blame Abaddon.

One thing about Mantas' guitar style and tone on this album... it always struck me as having a slithery snake-like quality to it at times.

Awesome sum up of this album.

< Poseur right here. I'd just rather listen to Angel Witch or listen to Slayer and not the middle ground, despite how influential it is.

Why is Venom "the middle ground?" They were one of the most extreme bands in the day.

Trapt sure lacks perspective to appreciate Venom properly. One (a young one at it) cannot understand the impact of this on metalheads and on the metal music. It was the early 80s, damnit!
I remember the band being mocked as poor musicians and bad songwriters at the time, mostly by those who thought Motörhead was the "final frontier" of raw, aggressive sound. Venom pushed the boundaries so much farther that even Motörhead started to sound like "just another rock'n'roll band".

And, Val, At War with Satan does suffer from a lack of speed but, on the remastered cd edition, it has Warhead (waaaaaarhead! ) and Lady Lust, two personal favorites in Venom's catalogue.

I got into metal in the early 1990s by which time Venom was an old band. But even then there was a massive appreciation of what Venom did for metal.

Trapt should appreciate them for being a truly revolutionary band even if he doesn't like their sound.

Best quote I ever saw about Venom was from Bon Jovi who claimed Venom gave heavy metal a bad name.




Dammit Frenchie, I'm agreeing with you!

I still have the Warhead / Seven Gates of Hell / Lady Lust EP.

Of course I agree with Venom being the most extreme at the time, the made their peers (excepting Motorhead) sound like schoolgirls.
Remember chilluns, this was 1982, when Rick Springfield was all the rage.

Do you guys prefer the recording of Bloodlust that was included in the extras of Black Metal or the one from Welcome to Hell?

I personally think that it is one of the true classic metal songs and few people I know seem to agree.