Customer Reviews
BLACK METAL.......... - By: Mrs. Jayne M. Jarvis, 31 Jul 2007 
Venoms finest moment is here on this fine re-issue of a true classic black metal album. the singer is not good, the guitar is rubbish & the bass is awful but its venom, true metal. easily the best black metal album ever, no competition............CLASS
Black Metal was invented in Newcastle not Norway. - By: Ed, 01 Jul 2007 Venom invented black metal, lets get that straight. You coin the term & therefore you decide how it sounds, ok? It doesn't have to sound like Mayhem or whatever to be black metal, because simply put if you invent something then you decide how it sounds. Now all you Marduk fans can sod off, Satanic Judas Priest? Well first of all that sounds absolutely killer... but as simply as I can put it, Venom is black metal & `Black Metal' is one of the all time greatest heavy metal albums.
Fuelled by Newcastle Brown & Stottie cakes Venom proceeded to absolutely kick the metal worlds bottomin 1982 with what frankly can be considered a more refined a approachin contrast to the `washing machine full of bricks' subtly of `Welcome to Hell'. `Black Metal' was probably the heaviest, fastest & most over the top metal aboutin the early 80's, & not only is it a triumphin extremity but alsoin terms of song writing, atmosphere & general all round "hail satanic majesty" goodness.
Lets get this out of way, do not expect musical prowess here, there is no shredding. Mantas is not a great technician & some of his solos are sketchy. Abaddon is not a great drummer, do not expect 44/872 time, this isn't Dream Theater. Cronos, however actually is a great vocalist & not many people had this kind of snarling vocalin 1982, so again Venom were ground breaking & as a bassist he does all that's required with a nasty buzzing tone like a less refined Lemmy (not that Lem's tone is refined).
There isn't much doubtin the quality of `Black Metal', all the songs here are metal classics expect `Teachers Pet' which is just a bit of smutty fun, but if your looking for all out satanic malevolent metal you can always skip this one (and probably the whole album as I may have to explain to you if your from Scandinavia, Mainland Europe...or assorted other humourless nations this is all very tonguein cheek you see). `Black Metal' is a lovely piece of speed metal, not too dissimilar from Judas Priest's `Rapid Fire'in places but a whole lot more evil & for further metal brownie points it starts with a chainsaw going through a door. `To Hell & Back' is simplistic, with some lovely filthy pitched harmonic riffs which are quite sludgy due to the fact that this album wasin C# tuning & the production is very muddy, it's not the best song here but still fun & oh so metal. `Buried Alive' is a grand achievementin atmosphere & features the rather homemade effect of dirt being heaped upon a microphone to give a certain authenticity. This is seminal Venom, one of the bands best known & best loved songs eschewing speed metal for a slower more menacing pace, it's practically a Venom ballad. `Raise the Dead' is another speedy number with fairly standard NWOBHM riffs, but it's the lyrics which make this one;
`I hear the star of the Necromancer
my blood is black & my heart doth bleed' yes this isn't a Job For a Cowboy album! `Leave mein Hell' is a Venom classic, with yet more great lyrics...Torment? Bestial Sex? If you must Cronos. `Sacrifice' displays a distinct Motörhead influence, not that it's not prevalentin the rest of the album its just this one reminds me of `Over the Top'. `Countess Bathory' would prove highly influential as it's the first metal song (well at least that I've heard of) to deal with the blood countess & a song from which Bathory would take their namesake. It's a corker of a song with some excellent riffs; Mantas is a bit bad at times but he has some awesome riffs. Next up; `Don't Burn the Witch' corker! Best Venom song ever. That almighty heretical riff & Cronos' occult imagery really shines hear. I freaking love lyrics on the occult! `At War with Satan (preview)' is a strange way to end an album, but interesting nonetheless & I suppose it made sense contextually.
Also of note is that on these Venom reissues the bonus tracks are actually worth listening to, which really is a startling rarity. You get some nice radio sessions & killer Venom songs which never actually appeared on albums, singles I believe, remember them?
Looking to drink the vomit of priests? Fancy pulling a dying whore? Giving blood to the beast? Can't find your key to death's door? (have you checkedin the plant pots?) Well anyway, here's a album you must own. Buy `Black Metal' & open the seven gates of heck!
This ain't no Bon Jovi album! 666/10!
lay down your soul to the gods rock and roll!! - By: B. Mallinson, 21 Jan 2007 
BLACK METALL!!! Yes their supposedly best album, but I rate the debut higher, this is still an excellent album & worthy of the legendary 'Black Metal' genre it spawned...
The title track opens up with a chainsaw & is a fantastic piece of fast proto-thrash, from the start you can tell the production values of this album have improved (albeit only slightly), the whole album is slightly less buriedin distortion & you can hear Cronos' bass a lot clearer. There are some classics on here such as the 2 part 'Buried alive/raise the dead'(the demo on the debut was slightly better though), but its the fact that Venom have slightly slowed down & produced more menacing songsin the vein of 'In Legue With Satan' that I like about this release.
The last 3 songs rank among my all-time favourate outputs from Venom, Countess Bathory is a dark & slighty gothic song about the legendary Countess who bathedin virgin's blood, the black metal band 'Bathory' even named themselves after this song! 'Don't Burn the witch' is probibly my fave song on the album & one of Mantas' best riffs, again, Slayer took great influence & this woundn't be out of place on their debut! Plus the preview of 'At War with Satan' that takes up 20 minutes of their next album demostrates a better guitar sound than the one on that album. Listening to these & say a more traditional black metal band such as Iuvenes you can tell the beginnings of something new & unique.
The bonus stuff is a somewhat welcome return to the fast (very fast) Venom thats missing from the main album, & there are some really good tunes here, but their all kinda similar & after a while sound very samey. Still, an essential release just for the last 3 tracks of the original album alone, which are all true black metal (the genre) classics.
A History lesson - By: longdirtyhair, 02 Dec 2006 One of those albums that you simply must own to be able to join a conversation about rock music. Pure Cult.
Debate still rages about their commitment to the Dark Arts, & their musical ability, but that misses the point. Venom neither take themselves too seriously, not care what you think, so if singing about Satan is what they fancy on a given morning, that is what they will do.
The wall of feedback intro sets the tone of the album, which is a cross between chaos, genius, & uptempo british Heavy Metal. Cronos once described Abbadon's drumming as sounding like he was falling down the stairs, & Cronos himself could be playing anything on his bass for all you can tell. Mantas' guitar is the cement which holds it all together, & the riffs are instant, heavy & enduring.
Don't get too excited about the bonus tracks, although Bloodlust & Die Hard could easily have made their way on to the original album.
This obviously sounds nowhere near as extreme now as it was to earsin 1982, but that it has lasted this long should tell you how good it is.
the one - By: themysticanimal, 24 Oct 2003 this is the album that started it.it gave birth to a new ,dark ,imaginative & violent music.a new genre.
black metal.
because of it ,we got the horrors of mayhem,the epics of emperor & the mysteries of dark throne.plus phil anselmo.
remastered.my favourite are buried alive,with it's scary sound effects ,from inside a casket , countess bathory-you should know her already if you into metal music- & to hell & back.
but teachers pet may tell us something about their credibility,my least favourite, it's about a school boy puberty dreams of his female teacher.but hey ,it's from 1982.
the bonus tracks are from the (friday rock show) sessions,black metal,nightmare,too loud for the crowd & blood lust.plus new versions,bursting out+2,die hard , acid queen & a hounds of hell outake.
do trust phil anselmo's daste,and buy it.
