Black Metal

Silly

#273/1001 🇬🇧 Listening to this watching the sun rise over Ionian sea. I couldn't be any further away from the inspiration behind this record. It's loud, it's thrashy and rocks hard. Some of the lyrics are really cringey and at times it feels theatrical - like a hammer horror vampire - rarely a good thing in my opinion. It seems that this record would go on to influence the Norwegien Black Metal scene which my friends and i followed in disbelief through the pages of Kerrang magazine - like some crazy church burning soap opera. Best Tracks: To Hell and Back, Countess Bathory, Don't Burn the Witch, Bloodlust (bonus track).

"silly"

Old school extreme metal--high speed, stuttering drums, deep growl singing, and all kinds of Satanist religious imagery (except that stupid sex with teacher song), which I can't tell are tongue in cheek or not, which is kind of fun. I like this early black.death metal much more than its later evolutions.

SHIT SANDWICH

It was the musical equivalent of Charlie Brown in his ghost costume. “I got a rock.”

Totally metal. I could taste the cigarettes and stale blood.

2.7. a remaster would help it for sure

3.5

Got better at it went on. Ended fine.

The worst back to back albums we’ve had so far during this project.

Musicianship is world class and I dig their politics. It's just not a record I would listen to again.

One of the most influential metal albums of all time, and I can certainly appreciate that, but it’s not something that I would regularly listen to for enjoyment.

recht-in-je-raap plaatje... niet de meest hoogstaande lyrics, maar topschijf om op te headbangen... niet te vergeten : immense invloed op anderen

The guitar and bass work are energetic and sometimes even bouncy. But the howling vocals are hard to listen to. I guess that's a big reason I don't listen to metal. The fixation on hell and the Devil isn't for me either.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this! I’m really not a metal guy (especially the really really heavy stuff) so I was nervous for this one, but I loved just how goofy it was! And no Cookie Monster vocals!!

So bad I only made it through the third song.

I recognize this is probably important in the history of metal but i just don't like it

Crazy this is the only album on this list for "black metal" despite not being even close to what you would call black metal, but hey - it gave the name to the genre so I'll take it. This is incredibly influential album in the world of extreme. Musically maybe it's at least around 3 for me, but I'm inclined to raise it to 4 just out of spite for this list to barely contain any releases of extreme metal which is a shame, once again proving that the list authors know shit all about music, but this one is essential listening nevertheless

Ihan jees punkkilevy. Melodinen

Several degrees more listenable than I was expecting. I couldn’t really focus on the lyrics, but my impression was that there was intelligence and purpose behind the diabolism. And there was certainly musicality. Probably won’t be returning to it, but not bad.

In a genre I'd usually steer clear of, this managed to find a groove that didn't grate on my nerves. The musical equivalent of being chased down a dark alley. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - Black Metal - Countess Bathory - Don't Burn the Witch

So THIS is where black metal came from Pretty good but very over the top, something about the vocals and the lyrics just threw me off and sounded very unserious and cheesy, where a deeper register like is more common nowadays. Very very happy to write this off for being such a seminal album in one of metals many many subgenres

NEWCASTLE MENTIONED PART 7(?) Very loud, possibly a little much at times, not particularly my sort of music and it doesn’t have anywhere near as much of the details that make master of puppets good 2.5

Absolutely not.

Я люблю ці метал-гурти та їх альбоми, які вплинули на більш екстремальні жанри та гурти. Тут нормальні іскри з гітар несуться, по-хорошому дурацькі тексти, які потім були сприйняті частиною гуртів занадто серйозно. Веселий альбом.

Альбом дав назву жанру, але я памʼятаю що коли вперше слухав веном то подумав "та це ж взагалі не схоже на блек!". Не скажу що це мій улюблений метал жанр, якась моторхедевщіна. Але весело, якщо це слухати трохи іронічно.

I didn't like it.

Nisam ovo nikad slušala jer mrzim shriekove i izbjegavam većinu black metala. Ne volim Cradle of Filth osim koje pjesme iako sam najveći fan IT Crowda na svijetu. Slabo šta volim osim nekih pažljivo probranih stvari, mahom pomiješanih sa symphonic metalom (mrzim što ova lista nema npr. Dimmu Borgir koji su nedavno radili cover ove naslovne pjesme, baš me zanima kakve bi bile ocjene za Enthrone Darkness Triumphant ili nešto; možda ja dodam nešto takvo kad završim s listom hmmm). Pa nisam znala da je proto-black metal bio daleko bolji od današnjeg black metala. A kad je ovo davno bilo. Inače mi je moderni metal daleko bolji jer su morali proširiti zvuk i uvesti neke genijalne netradicionalne stvari. Sad npr. svaki metal bend ima sintisajzer. Ovi stariji bendovi ne bi to mogli zamisliti. Produkcija je otišla hiljadu nivoa iznad. A ovo je možda jedini album koji ću čuti da je bolji zbog loše produkcije a ne obrnuto. Upravo ono što sam pisala jučer u kilometarskoj kritici: šta li mi se još skriva? Ovo čudo naprimjer.

It's metal. Influential metal, but metal. And the two of us will always remind each other of douche bag exs and really bad smelling concerts.

9/23/26. Not for me. Felt a bit generic and straightforward without the punch.

in this house we stand for silly music

Oye. Knew I wouldn't like immediately and then to see it's OVER AN HOUR.

This wasn't doing terrible things until the inclusion of the classic 70s football terrace chant "get your tits out for the lads". That was dated by the time this was released, certainly anywhere outside of a football ground or a Bernard Manning show. And for that you lose at least a point – although not enough to bring this down to Aerosmith levels of creepy. Some of the guitar work is OK, and there are some elements which sound fine. The whole devil worshipping line is childish though. Just about gets to 2 stars, but it's close to 1

A classic but almost laughable at this point in 2026. It’s like a parody album.

This is #day773 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... as seminal as it might be for the development of the genre, this isn't the kind of metal I'd normally reach for, let alone enjoy. The diabolic/satanic element of the whole affair doesn't appeal to me. Let it be a 2 out of 5. Looking forward to #day774.

my shitttt almost 5

Listened previously. Expectations: Mid - Verdict: Good - I'm more familiar with their debut but I remember enjoying this album. The opener is really good and sets out exactly what the album is about. The next few tracks aren't quite as strong but the transition from Buried Alive into Raise The Dead is cool. Leave Me In Hell is a great track and sacrifice rocks hard. Countess Bathory has the best sounding guitar on the album and is clearly a standout. I really like the way the album ends but I do think it feels like it was building into one last epic track. Good album.

Por qué estos tipos están todo el tiempo gritando sobre el infierno y cosas horribles? No les pasaba nada bueno en sus vidas? Ya nos dimos cuenta que te queres quedar a vivir en el infierno rodeado de mierda hermano Supongo que es un buen álbum de heavy metal, pero claramente no es lo mío. No lo disfruto en absoluto, me parece un ruido constante y una voz ronca gritando el nombre de la canción

2.5. I understand that this influenced so much. It’s not bad. It sure isn’t good. One trick pony

maybe the hardest listen yet.

Po hitrem poizvedovanju - zarad tega albuma naj bi sploh prišlo ime za to zvrst metala. Insane vokal, za nekoga, ki na tisti točki še 20 ni bil! (Take stvari me zj in my 30s presenetijo, lol, ker mi zdaj tok stari ljudje izgledajo res še otroc.) To je sicer spet en teh žanrov, ki sm jim večkrat dala šanso & it's just not for me. "Teacher's Pet" je kul. "Leave Me in Hell" tud. Pa "Don't Burn the Witch". Dobro prelivanje med komadi, to sm zmer a fan. Ok, mal lazy ending albuma, fade out literally medtem k poje?

Rock too hard

Noisy.

I get its important to metal as a whole, but this is just is so boring. It's more an album that inspired significantly better stuff than this. His vocals just sound like hes not really trying to hard and the instrumentals dont really go as hard as you'd expect for something literally named black metal. A lot of metal is overly edgy and over the top, but this is just pretty corny honestly. Lyrics read like an edgy MySpace post.

No thanks

The importance this album had in founding several subgenres of extreme metal can not be denied. But it’s not very good, is it? Most of the songs sound like second-rate Mötörhead, and Teacher’s Pet is laughably bad. An extra star for importance.

Fun. Ridiculous.

It's a rather fun oldschool thrash metal, and I think it deserves at least four stars for the influence it had for the future of many metal genres, including black metal, which has evolved from the sound of this album so much that it does not sound like this album at all. Overall, a very fun listen!

Cute

A lot better than I expected due to the ample amount of shreddage here. Not a 5 because weird grunting of “satan” over and over again can only go so far.

Holy **** can we please stop?! (0/5)

Wtf was that

Oh yay, its noise (sarcastic obviously)

This one is tough coming off of Pantera. Metal isn’t my thing. But at least I can see the influence this one had on later metal. Still not for me.

Not bad but not my thing

Strangely enjoyable

As album #900 for me, this really encapsulates what's great and terrible about this project. Great: I would have never listened to it if I weren't doing this thing. Terrible: Not that great an album.

I was not looking forward to this but it is actually musical and silly and more than a little charming. Worth a listen!

Interesting old school metal. Seems like they are leaning hard into the whole Satan worship act. Some good lyrics and music is not bad. For early metal I would say it's pretty good. These days it would seem pretty lame but I supposes someone had to set the stage for modern metal.

kind of boring. The lead singer sounds so unenthusiastic for a black metal album and his lyrics are dogshit. drums and guitar carry the album. After half of the album, the band members sort of wake up and put a little more fervor into the mix.

Influential yet average metal

#441 Not exactly my wheelhouse but for a metal album pushing "death", "thrash", "black" and "speed" as sub genres, it was fairly accessible to my ears. Vocals weren't my thing but not a turn-off either. I don't know much about Venom but I am gathering they are quite influential and I can understand how they fit in to the lineage of metal music, even with my limited expertise in this genre. Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ❌ Listen before you die?❓ Fave track(s): Black Metal Rating: 5/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

r they ok its a bit much

When this came out it in 1982 during the so called New Wave of British Heavy Metal along with Maiden, Def Leppard, Saxon, Tigers of Pantang etc., Venom always stood a bit off to the side of that movement feeling more like a cross-over between Sabbath and Motorhead. For example, Heaven on Fire lifts heavily from Motorhead’s Ace of Spades. Revisiting this record in its entirety after 50 years is interesting because Black Metal still, in some ways, is the same record I listened to at that time. It hasn’t really aged. I can recognize the influence on the genre as certainly Megadeth and Metallica have incorporated elements into their early sound. So, what stands the test of time? The satanic messaging to shock? Sure. But that is not the essence of the record. Rather, there is some pretty fine playing on the record, such as the guitar solo in the middle of Teacher’s Pet, and it is this aspect that makes the album still enjoyable. Black Metal still hold up as an outstanding song and I hear it often in record stores that still play metal and I see the record in punk stores. However, it is difficult to ignore the similarities to Motörhead. For a number of these tracks you can almost hear Lemmy doing the vocals, such as on Leave Me in Hell or To Hell and Back. I do note that while this particular sound - both guitar tone, velocity and vocal approach, are very tame now as extreme metal and black metal have significantly different vocal approaches, for its time Black Metal was somewhat novel. In the early 80s it stood out as a punk as fuck metal record particularly for its apparent acceptance of Satan and the velocity on some of these tracks. It now would be considered now just your average hard rock record. But at that time, Venom stood out in the metal world. Good record, a little bit repetitive, but worthy of a spin in the collection. 3/5

Music that belongs on the soundtrack for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater -2. Committing to a concept is cool, but idk man, the lyrics here are just unbelievably dumb. The guitar sounds like it was recorded 100 yards away from an old tape recorder. Simply not for me I guess. Gets a star for being different.

if i was ever gonna like music adjacent to this style of metal i think this album gave it a fair shake. the vocals aren't too off-putting, it's pretty palatable for my soft casual ears. it just all kinda sounds the same and i don't like it much. it doesn't have a song i'd like to hear again. i liked the guitar solo in Sacrifice. soft 2

Rating: 5/10 It may have been the namesake of black metal even though it isn't actually black metal. Lines up more with the thrashy heavy metal that was around while influencing the even darker extreme genres that would be developed. Definitely see those influences in its lyrics and themes, with the infernal, demonic, and occult stuff and all. Also a hint of the raw lo-fi nature of the genre but in a way where it just wasn't produced very well. Why the hell are the shouty vocals mixed so much higher up than the instrumentation, that was a big issue with it. It wasn't that bad, fun enough with its riffs, mostly just glad to have finally listened to it as a metal history album Also, Teacher's Pet sucks. So weirdly out of place in an album otherwise about death and Satan.

Right... I am going to make no bones about it, this was an awesome album musically and it's always neat hearing where other bands got their ideas. Lyrics were iffy, so 4?

El acta fundacional de la música extrema y una piedra de toque del rock pesado que ha envejecido bien como un monumento de insubordinación sónica e impacto cultural. En el plano de diseño formal, la producción rechaza cualquier pulcritud para articular un entretejido sucio, caótico, deliberadamente ruidoso y a la vez memorable, donde la saturación de las guitarras, el bajo atronador y una batería desbocada construyen una muralla analógica cuya aspereza se convirtió en canon estético. La interpretación del trío desborda una fuerza indómita que transmite una autenticidad frontal y sin concesiones, imponiendo una autoridad superior como pioneros absolutos del sonido extremo. Himnos seminales como la arrolladora "Black Metal", el magnetismo rítmico y siniestro de "Countess Bathory", la pesadez ritual de "Raise the Dead" y la asfixia de "Buried Alive" dan forma a un documento conmovedor, crudo y real que opera como un visceral llamado a la conciencia frente a la domesticación cultural, la moralina impuesta y la hipocresía social a través de la catarsis del horror teatral. Un trabajo de intensidad inagotable cuyo dinamismo acelerado lo vuelve muy apto para múltiples usos, brillando como un catalizador extraordinario para potenciar las sesiones de ejercicio, la conducción por carretera o detonar la energía en el trabajo creativo.

I guess I’m just surprised black metal/death metal became a whole genre that has endured. I get if you like your guitars fast and loud, I just don’t understand how the association with the occult or whatever has such staying power. It’s like if after 36 chambers there were hundreds of Kung Fu inspired rap albums for the next 40 years. Or….I guess if there were 40 years of rap about selling drugs….never mind I get it now.

4.5 Great metal album. I think this really kicked off all of the metal sub-genres moving forward. I dont know why but I think this had the same impact as NWA had on rap and prompted gangster rap. They both were all-in on their themes thats for sure. If you were a parent and your 13-year-old kid was listening to this and you overheard it, it would scare the shit out of you. Probably scare the 13 year old too.

A very sturdy bit of Iron Maiden-y metal, but way too repetitive, particularly from monotone vocals

This album doesn't deserve a 3 star based on execution, but I'll grant it on history.

this isn't nearly as heavy as i thought it would be. it's not even actually black metal .. i like some softer metal, but this is definitely not to my taste and i don't see the generator changing that rn. with this entry, it definitely hasn't (yet ?).

Sincere hopes this would be good. Alas it was not. Unclear if this is meant to be parody or legit but impressed me as neither. 1/5

Listened to this twice and its pretty good. Solid NWOBHM that reminds me a bit of Running Wild in its sound and production. There's actually some good tracks in here. Notably its not really Black Metal but one of those albums that spawn a genre

This is the cartoon version of the genre that plays in my head when people mention the genre. Rating: 2

What can I say... it's hard metal. With the right mood it is a perfect addition to a gloomy ambience. I loved that kind of thing as a teenager, maybe not so much today (not so gloomy?).

Proto-edgrlord music from the early 1980s. It would deservedly sound outdated in just ten years. Maybe there's something here for someone but it's not me. I guess this would start us down the road to the PMRC in a few years' time but musically there is nothing special here that bands weren't already doing at this point. Technically it's fine. The songwriting is good. The vocals are okay. Yeah it's not a bad album in that regard but I can't understand why it's on here.

Better than Slayer but poorly mastered.

I think i needed to listen to this while working out, not editing a paper.

In 2026 this sounds pretty silly but I do approve of the idea of pushing the boundaries of Sounding Evil in your own time.

2026.08.29. 2

2.3

I'm not sure exactly what narrow details differentiate this album from hardcore punk, but whatever those differences are, they must be the thing that tickles my fancy, 'cause I'm into this, rough, edgy, and fun

Lot more lo-fi than I was expecting; maybe it really is the foundation of black metal. Some of this is a little silly but a lot of my favorite metal music is, so I give it a pass (I can't enjoy bands like Bathory and then get mad because this is corny, you know what I mean). It's just a good time. "Teacher's Pet" is hilariously uncomfortable though; the inverse of "Hot for Teacher" with graphic descriptions. Wildly out of place, not gonna lie. Very bizarre.

You can tell it’s a good metal album because it sounds like a parody of one. Also, I appreciate the spelling lesson. Now I know how to spell S-A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E

While I respect that or Lord and Savior, Satan, deserves all praise, this music is absolute trash.

Fine I guess

Banbrytande album på sin tid, men det Venom gjorde bra gjorde alla så mycket bättre kort därpå. Men uppskattar deras insats för genren.

I get that it’s supposed to be tongue in cheek but it’s not very interesting. Same sounds throughout the album, vocals are trash to me, lyrics aren’t clever. Couple songs that I enjoyed but would not come back to this. Don’t think this my genre in general

It's all very comedic nowadays, and the Devil stuff is just a bit naff. As an avid metalhead and Sounds subscriber back in the days when this came out... I ended up completely ignoring this album. But I also totally get that this was a pioneer of speed metal and how it has found itself is on the list. But being a 'pioneer', it's cheaply recorded and poorly produced. And the ultimate sin is that it's badly drummed. It's also monotonous, dull and rather satanically stereotyped in 2026. And it kinda was then too. 1½★

I actually thought this was pretty good. 3.5/5

I understand a band having an underground sound, but the album shouldn't sound so murky. Not to blame the band, but this is one of the worst produced albums I've ever heard. I'm not into metal, but I can appreciate it when it's good. Unfortunately, this is not.

Decent listen

Listened to like four tracks. The verdict: ASS SQUARED.

Actually not bad

Letra meio THE METAL do Tenacious D huauhauhua. Não curto muito o estilo, parece que tá desafinado. Mas ok.

At least as good as Master of Puppets. Had way more fun with this album than I expected.