Black Metal
Venom
1982
Album Summary
Black Metal is the second album by English heavy metal band Venom. It was released in November 1982, during the great flourishing of metal music in the UK that was the new wave of British heavy metal, through Neat Records. Vocalist and bassist Conrad Lant and guitarist Jeffrey Dunn wrote the album's material, with most of the songs being written in the early 1980s and two songs being written prior to the band's formation in 1979. With strong sales and positive reviews of the band's debut album, Welcome to Hell, which was recorded in just three days, Lant requested more time from Neat in the studio to record their follow-up. Recording sessions for the album took place at Impulse Studios in 1982 over a seven-day period. Lant, who shouldered most of the responsibility in the studio due to his experience as an assistant engineer and tape operator for Impulse, alongside studio engineer and producer Keith Nichol, worked from dawn to dusk on recording while Lant completed the final mixes on his own on the last day. Musically, the album sees Venom build upon their extreme sound, which they established on their debut album, with their signature "three-minute bashers”, while also experimenting with more ambitious and adventurous pieces exploring the bands theatrical and cinematic side. Black Metal is often described as speed metal, thrash metal, extreme metal, and black metal, lending its name to the latter subgenre of heavy metal. As with its predecessor, the music, as well as the lyrics and imagery continue to forge some of the essential features of the black metal genre and were a major influence on the early Norwegian black metal scene. The cover art, designed by Lant, features Satanic imagery including a demon face with an inverted pentacle star on its forehead, and an inverted cross and 666 inscription on its left and right horn respectively. Black Metal was released to massive critical acclaim from both the metal underground as well as the mainstream music press, with its music being described as "proto-thrashing classics", "surprisingly complex", and "absolute classics", and would go on to be considered one of the most influential metal albums of all time. It is considered a major influence on the thrash metal, death metal and black metal scenes that emerged in the 1980s and early 1990s. The album has also been retrospectively placed on several publications' best albums lists including Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and Kerrang! magazines "100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". The album was re-released by Sanctuary Records in 2002.
WikipediaIn the early ’80’s, I was riding with the Hell’s Angels and selling PCP in Bakersfield. I listened to this record ALL. THE. TIME. Nowadays, I need a pint of virgin blood and a nap halfway thru to make it through the album once. There’s lots of noise here on this album and the devil lyrics are on high. As a matter of fact, the lyrics are where this Black Metal shines. Who can dismiss “do you believe in God, he’s chained up like a dog and every hour he screams 'SATAN RULES SUPREME!" ?? [whoa!] And, though there's nothing fancy about the drumming, the guitar is show-y, fast and intricate at times. As a matter of fact, this band makes me think a lot of TSO. Yep, TSO - The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I’m quite certain these Venom guys could’ve been real competition to the TSO if the devil-worshiping thing ever caught on. There are plenty of similarities between the two. Both are rock’n’roll crusaders for a higher power and tolerable in small doses, played ONLY during special occasions. For example, TSO, is often heard during Christmas season, while Venom's Black Metal, I'm assuming, gets a lot of play during sacrificing your first-born or throwing a surprise birthday party for Lucifer. Two stars.
There is lots of decent or even good metal out there. Why is this on the list? (So that was my first reaction. Then I read up on it, and apparently they were really pioneers of several sub-genres of metal in the late 70s-early 80s. And so like with the Brian Eno stuff, part of why they merit inclusion on this list is the influence they had on what came after? In that case, do I boost their rating based on the impact they had? Do I rate the music in a vacuum, based totally on what I hear? Or do I rate it based on its historical context?)
It’s a little bit silly (ok it’s very silly) and objectively the songs are not very good and the whole thing sounds like it was recorded in their bathroom. But as massive fan of 80s thrash metal I cannot ignore the influence this album had on that genre. And it’s fun too.
Heavy metal is awesome but Venom has never done it for me. They got lucky in that they were one of the (if not THE) first bands to get really gritty. None of it is particularly good - it just plods along, a mix of noisy and boring. About the best I can say is that it influenced a lot of the more extreme end of metal, which I love. Within a year or two of this, Venom had been completely outclassed and made obsolete. Why the hell would you listen to this when 2 years later you can have ride the lightning? 2 points but I gotta grudgingly bump it up to 3 because it was so influential. 3/5.
1982. Venom's second album. The first proto-black metal album! This one inspired a lot of trash and death bands in early 90-s. Black Metal song has been covered dozen of times (more than 100)!
This album might be difficult to appreciated if you're not into metal, but I swear this one is very important in the history of the genre. Its title even became the name of an evergrowing style of metal, the black metal. This album is so explosive, energetic, fast and grimy, it was a revelation back in 1982. The lyrics and imagery also had a major influence on the shape of metal to come. To me, it sounds like an influencial classic, so... 5 stars!
Very consistent (thrash? black? power?) metal album, consists of great songs such as "Black Metal", "Sacrifice", "Teacher's Pet" and "Countless Bathory"
I can't recall if I've ever listened to this one before, but my expectations were low and the album exceeded them on almost every level. It's fascinating to me that the sub-genre this album spawned has so little in common with the actual music on the record. It's like a bunch of Norwegian teenagers just saw the artwork and decided to take what they thought Venom probably sounded and looked like and made up their own bands based around that. I can't quite explain how else they got from this album to corpsepaint screeching blast-beat insanity that sounds like it was recorded on an electric can opener. Not to dismiss the whole genre, because there are moments that really work for me. I just don't understand the evolution here. Which is too bad, as well, because I really dig what this album actually is. In essence, it's just a grimier Satanic infused version of Motorhead. That's a winning recipe in my kitchen and I'd have no problem with other bands stealing and modifying that recipe. (see: High on Fire and/or Kvelertak!) Also, how the hell does a church-burning bandmate murdering Norwegian black metal diehard brush off the inarguably terrible song "Teacher's Pet"? (Naturally, it's the longest song on the album.) Worse than the half-baked blues riff bullshit, did you see the lyrics to that one? Good god. I'll give them credit for beating Van Halen to the party, but that song's an X-rated joke that damn near derails the whole album. Keep it in your pants, fellas. Even so, I'll stand up for this one. You know what I love? Songs where they literally spell out words. "Sacrifice" is a banger. "Countess Bathory" rules. "Buried Alive" is tortured and creepy. I wish I had found this at age 12.
Intelligible metal is good metal. I feel like this album could have benefited from a producer saying, "Hey, this would be much more listenable if you dialed it back by 5 or 10 percent." Then again, what kind of metal band listens to that kind of advice? Best track: Don't Burn the Witch
This feels like something I would listen to if I was riding motorcycles and selling PCP. But I respect the album, I can for sure feel the influence of this album. It's got some pretty rad guitars and the lyrics are pretty metal. Full on Satan. I don't mind it at all.
There is good metal out there, and this didn't sound like it. Genuinely a slog to get through, from the bad production to the lead's vocals. The music itself was uninspired and bland at times, but ultimately the best part of the album. The music + the influence keeps me from giving this a 1. Like, I *get* why this is on the list, but really? Y'all couldn't pick a better representation? Also I turned on the lyrics because I was having a difficult time understanding and tbh I wish I hadn't done that.
Nearly 70 albums in and I've managed to get by without any metal... until now. It was never going to be a big hit with me, and I can generally appreciate the influence these albums have had, but it didn't make this one any easier to get through. Everything about Venom's "Black Metal" is sloppy, from the hackneyed lyrics to the performance and production. There's absolutely no range to it, it's sludgy riffs caked in distortion, thrashy drums and endlessly bellowed vocals. It's hard to tell if this is Venom's intention, or they're taking their satanism and musicianship very seriously and just not landing it. It might feel spontaneous and on the fly, but so does a plane crash. The lyrics are unbelievably trite, "let's be edgy because we're a metal band" sort of material that ends up feeling eye-rollingly try-hard. Satan worshipping? Virgins bleeding? Ooh, you're hard. And then, in the middle of devil worshipping and the re-animated undead, comes "Teacher's Pet": a juvenile, graphic sexual fantasy that feels out of place even here. I cringed throughout the whole thing. "Bathory" and "Raise the Dead" were the only ones I could tolerate, and they're the best of a bad bunch. The last track, "At War with Satan", is a two minute preview of what would become a side-long epic on their next album, a bit like a post-credits tease. It's either a tantalising marketing move or just a lazy way to fill up space. Either way, it feels odd and closes things on a duff note with an abrupt fade-out. I'm not into metal in general, but I'm still glad I heard this effort from a band who were on the edge of the NWOBHM (an acronym I didn't know meant New Wave of British Heavy Metal until today- that's how little experience I have with the genre). This might have made it to 2* if it hadn't come up on a day I'm feeling lousy and hungover, as possibly the worst album I could have drawn. While I can appreciate its significance, it's almost certain I'll never seek out "Black Metal" again.
Thrash metal. Screaming and loud - very big. Would be great to lift to. Solid melody. Fast drums. Solid guitar. It must be boring to write all your songs about exactly the same thing. A clear setup for Metallica.
A genuine rush. You could feel Venom know they're onto something new, fresh and exciting. This gallops gleefully along, giving no gucks and taking no prisoners. Great stuff.
For an album that spawned one of the most vicious music ever created under its name, Black Metal is a lot of fun. Maybe it's because we have a lot of hindsight on it, but it's kind of surprising how seriously this album was taken by the generation that would create the second wave of black metal. To me it's just a fun metal album with great riffs and some clumsy execution. But since BM is my favorite metal subgenre, I can only be thankful that Venom (and Bathory) helped creating some of the best music out there.
Terrible music but was quite funny and made me laugh. How many different ways can you say Satan is the boss on proto thrash sounds? One apparently, just keep repeating it!
My only previous exposure to Venom was the “Live at City Gardens” 7-inch, put out by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore on his Ecstatic Peace! label. You should check it out, it’s on YouTube. So any chance of an unbiased review went out the window the moment I heard that. In fact, I can’t separate them. There’s almost no difference between this record and that hilarious 7” in my mind, only that this is like a super-sized version of that 7”. Sorry Venom fans, blame Thurston.
This was like a technically gifted school child was given a task to write a 'metal' album. A complete load of unimaginative rubbish.
Took me 3 attempts to finish this. like wtf - srsly the best. Irritating af. Not sure I needed to listen to this before I died. I'm annoyed
I suppose that if you were 14 years old and missed the first wave of metal and punk was more your older brother's type of music, you could call this your own. But I have serious reservations about any non-teenagers still listening to, or admitting to listening to, this. I see that, of the 1001 albums it's got the #994 spot all locked up.
On paper I should have hated this but (never thought I'd say this) thought it was amazing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it in an ironic (School of Rock/Spinal Tap) way. But it made me smile, it made me bop, it kept me entertained) and it plain rocks. Teacher's Pet especially made me laugh. In a good way
FUCK. YES. Teenage Satan metal at its most delightfully neanderthal and teenage. The over the top, hydrogen bomb subtlety of the thing would, of course, have kind of grim repercussions a decade later, when a bunch of kids in Norway approached it without any irony and started setting things on fire... but for all that there's a certain magnificence in its recorded-in-a-week grottiness. I get far more joy from this than a lot of other "better", more reputable records.
This is great. Really fun, Satan worshipping thrash metal. The directness in they way they approach their subject matter is hilarious and the songs are narratively complex, the imagery within each evoking a clear story. The little interludes and extra sound effects really give off the impression they were having a great time making it. Teacher's Pet has dethroned Hot for Teacher as the definitive song about inappropriate student-teacher relations. I did find that the mixing on a few of the tracks made the instruments sound a bit hollow, but they get a pass for being one of the first thrash albums. Despite it's age, it holds up incredibly well, and to me this is the gold standard of great metal. Fav Tracks: Buried Alive, Raise The Dead, Teacher's Pet, Leave Me In Hell
There are better bands than Venom for sure, but this is still solid stuff. Their influence outweighs their enjoyability but without Venom it's hard to imagine Slayer existing. Without Venom who knows how the world of extreme metal might have been influenced? In the end I gotta throw this a 5. Especially because the people that can't handle a little metal have the average on this album waaaay too low.
Not a fan of metal usually, but I got to chnage my mind for this one ! fire !
The album that started an entire genre. First listen, and actually quite liked it. Countess Bathory was great.
Um álbum tenebroso, com algum peso e relativamente calmo. Não é mau. Nota: 7/10
I think this an example of influenced better than influencer. With that being said this album is still pretty fire.
reminds me of early metallica. don't like the lyrics much, but sound is okay.
Listened Before? N Well, I got an education this morning! This record, and band, are a major part of the sound of the early 80s NWOBHM that influenced the big thrash artists in the US. Pros: This record sounds like primitive Motorhead! The lyrics are brutally unapologetic. The thrash sound is awesome! Cons: They kind of sound like edgy teens at times, but hey, it was the 80s and people weren't nearly as jaded then. The album sounds like it was recorded in someone's garage! Also, what's with the weird fade-in on track 1? Added to Library? Y Songs added to Playlist: To Hell and Back, Raise the Dead
Brilliant. Loved this. Without looking it up, I'll assume they were massively influential on Metallica. Easy 4 stars
Enjoyed this. Starts a bit slow but picks up. Great choons, vocals less so good. Can hear their influence in modern metal
This is very much not my thing. This overt satanism was the stuff of nightmares in the fundamentalist church I grew up in in the 90s. Of course the satanism is an aesthetic choice and one that works well for them. This album is akin to hearing thrash metal being born in all of its galloping glory out of the British metal new wave. Apparently the genre black metal was named after this album. I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting and honestly, the satanism still feels dangerous to my ex fundamentalist mind. It’s exciting.
Débile, bourrin, mais fun Prefs: Black Metal, Buried Alive, Raise the Dead, Leave Me in Hell, Heaven's on Fire, Countess Bathory, Don't Burn the Witch Moins pref: Teacher's Pet
This was a fun listen. A metal band who doesn't take themselves seriously, and they are very upfront about that. Super thrashy, and super early to the game (shocked this is a 1982 release). High octane metal straight to your veins. Hail Satan. Fave tracks: Black Metal, Raise the Dead, Don't Burn the Witch
You can hear the origins of where punk and rock merged to form the early sub-genres of metal music. Whilst lyrically this album explores the classic metal tropes of satanism and 'dark' things, musically I would consider this as early thrash with massive punk influences.
This is fantastic, like witnessing the birth of black metal/death metal. There's a ton of tongue in cheek fun stuff going on. Countess Bathory is the best song on the album by a mile.
Don't listen to anyone who doesn't consider this black metal. Anyways this album is amazing. Consistent as all hell, quite an impactful and influential album.
The root of modern metal and it shows. Lots of the tropes found in metal can be found right here.
Reminds me a lot of early Metallica. Lots about gothic themes and Satan. Pretty good if you’re in the right mood
This is my kind of metal. Dark, heavy, loud, fast & with a healthy amount of Satan worship. Fucking classic. Reminds me a bit of Motorhead. After another listen, I'm sure I'll bump this up to 5 stars.
Nice album in his genre. Need a better listen, so this rating is just for now. But its a crucial album in the history of Metal.
Buen disco, claramente la influencia a mil discos venideros. Malísima producción musical pero tampoco es relevante
Didn’t really sound like “black metal” and I think that’s a good thing
Another perfect album for Fat Riff Friday. The blues bridge on Teachers Pet was sick but Sacrifice is my highlight. Also Heavens on Fire sounds suspiciously similar to Ace of Spades
This is more METAL than I expected. I can see why it's an important album. It's not the style of metal I like, but I can hear it in modern music. I love how over the top it is. Teachers pet is hilarious. If heard this in high school I think I would have loved it.
Can see why it's influential. Not especially the type of metal I like to listen to but would probably give it another go.
Sounds like part of the NWOBHM, just not quite a polished. They sound like they're having a great time, and occasionally on this album I do too. BH: Black Metal, Teacher's Pet, Leave Me In Hell
Gar nicht meine Musik, aber besser, als erwartet und musikalisch gar nicht so schlecht.
Alright music, I think vocals were the weakest part. Gotta give it credit though, there's an entire genre of music named after this album.
What became synonymous with the Black Metal genre, this album shows the transition point from Hard Rock and Metal to a darker side.
Some decent metal in here somewhere, but it was totally drowned out by the almost parody-like lyrics (SATAN!) and terrible sound recording quality.
Thrashy in the best way, great vocals, but not big on all the satanic stuff.
I can't tell if these guys are a complete farce or taking themselves way too seriously. Either way, I must admit it is entertaining.
The sound this band has is great, albeit a little repetitive. I like the song titles.
Good early thrash. The influence on Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and other 80s thrash pioneers is present.
Mad to me that this was known as black metal back in the day, just sounds like skate thrash to me, similar to some hardcore I grew up listening to. I always thought black metal would be more twiddly guitar shit. Seems influential, sounds nostalgic. 3/5
This is really early black metal, but to a point it sounds a little bit corny. I'm not sure if that was the intent, or that they're the inspiration for that sound. Guitars can be pretty dark and the drums get plenty heavy for an enjoyable black metal experience, but it's also not my favorite/most versed in genre. Highlights: 3, 7, and 10.
I didn't realise the genre was named after an album, that's pretty cool. Probably influential, but if I want to listen to some thrash/black metal there are plenty of other things I'd go to first
Lyrics leave a lot to be desired but honestly not as bad as I thought it would be
Odd transitions, and regurgitated lyrics but as an early metal album it sets the stage
Sångaren är ganska störande och hans bars suger och är ointressanta... gillar hur smutsig musiken känns dock.
15-year-old me would have *loved* these guys. As it is, I can totally hear the sound that influenced Metallica, Megadeth, and so many more.
Vermakelijk, ik ben ooit vrijwel meteen weggelopen op Dynamo Open Air toen ze begonnen te spelen maar dat was vast vanwege de aankondiging: "And I bring you from the very depts of Hell... VENOMMM". Wel leuk dat het best rommelige metal is met wat hardcore/punk invloeden en een aardig hooligan-gehalte
Just not as good as the other metal I have listened to. Not a painful listen but just not that fun either.
OK, I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Metal not really my genre but this galloped along and was a fun listen. Stupid for sure, but I digged the Satan stuff. Apparently this record was influential - it sounds like a parody of metal to me but I was down with it.
Definitely not “black metal” so I’m guessing this is the first known use of the term? More like proto thrash hard rock. Meh.
Did not expect to enjoy this one, was again surprised. Don't think they'll be a regular play for me, but I have new respect for Venom.