- Cast in Stone (1997)
- Resurrection (2000)- Skeletons in the Closet (2002, compilation)
- Metal Black (2006)
- Hell (2008)
- Fallen Angels (2011)
- From the Very Depths (2015)
- Venom Inc.: Avé (2017)
- Storm the Gates (2018)
- Venom Inc.: There's Only Black (2022)
- In Nomine Satanas (2022, box set)
WELCOME TO HELL 1981 (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: 'Sons of Satan', 'Welcome to Hell', 'Schizo', 'Poison', 'Witching Hour', 'One Thousand Days in Sodom', 'Red Light Fever', 'In League with Satan'
A landmark album in heavy metal, although I'll 'betcha they didn't know it at the time. This debut from Newcastle's Venom may sound somewhat primitive and cliché by today's standards, but think about it - how many other bands sounded this heavy and extreme in 1981?! The answer of course, is nobody!!
Yep, Welcome to Hell was to be highly influential on almost all extreme genres of metal that would develop throughout the '80s - thrash metal, black metal, death metal... you name it. I think if I had to throw a label on the album, I'd call it speed metal. But with all the satanic themes throughout the music, lyrics and album artwork, you could equally stick this album within the first wave of black metal. They did invent the term 'black metal' after all.
So yes, this album emerged during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and it stood out for being more musically intense than the rest of their competition. Just listen to the first couple of tracks and you know that Cronos (vocals/bass), Mantas (guitar) and Abaddon (drums) were onto something; 'Sons of Satan' is a frantic opener - so fast and heavy, so pounding and in-your-face. The title track has a slightly slower pace and is full of every single satanic heavy metal cliché on the planet, but is equally awesome for it. Meanwhile 'Schizo' is surprisingly catchy while the raunchy 'Poison' is about as dirty and grimy as a metal tune can be. Like Motorhead, only filthier. I have a lot of other favourites too, namely the full-speed thrash of 'Witching Hour', the bruising 'One Thousand Days of Sodom' (Mantas even has a bit of groove in some of his riffs on this track), the stormin' 'In League with Satan' and the punky 'Red Light Fever'. Even the short, acoustic instrumental 'Mayhem with Mercy' sits nicely within the tracklisting, and is there for a reason.
Cronos' vocal style too, was very brash for the time. Like Lemmy, he's not exactly gutteral or growling. You can decipher the words that come out of his mouth, but he spouts them in a deep, harsh, shouty manner in an effort to sound as inaccessible as possible. The satanic themes of the music and imagery are also great - they were out to offend people, at it worked. But at the same time, it was just an image. The band never were Satanists, it was just an act to add shock value to the music and also the live shows. It added extra identity to heavy metal as a genre, and is all the more awesome for it.
Another reason why this album does things so well is the fact it sounds like a demo. In fact, it was supposedly recorded as a demo because the band didn't realise they were actually working on the finished product! Yeah, this is lo-fi and incredibly murky-sounding, but is all the better for it. I mean, look at how many Norwegian black metal bands would intentionally make their albums sound like shit later on!! And Venom had already done the same thing at least 10 years prior!! I can't imagine Welcome to Hell with clean production; true, I can think of many NWOBHM records with a raw sound, but Venom are top of the pile when it comes to true lo-fi production. Cronos' bass is so loud and bulldozing, the drums sound like cardboard boxes and the guitars sound like a buzzsaw. I wouldn't have it any other way, frankly.
Criticisms? It's age I guess. I still consider this to be extreme metal, but because extreme metal pretty much begins right here, by default it means it's as basic as the genre gets. It's both a strength and weakness all the same. If you compare this to other records that would appear later on in the decade, Welcome to Hell is kinda tame by comparison. I think you have to be an old-school metalhead to really enjoy this record. It's simplicity doesn't bother me, because I love metal that dates all the way back to it's bluesy beginnings. But if you want judge your metal by musical complexity and like it to sound similar to Cynic or Atheist, then you may as well just move on.
It's a 9/10 from me. I love Welcome to Hell, and it completely deserves a place among some of the most important metal albums of all time. And I've always dug every track it has to offer. However, despite my fondness for it, there's still a decent chunk of NWOBHM albums out there I like even more (Saxon's Strong Arm of the Law, Iron Maiden's self-titled, Raven's Rock Until You Drop to name a few) and I don't think Venom would peak yet either - there were still better things to come. Either way however, Welcome to Hell should be sat in every self-proclaimed serious metalhead's collection somewhere, and is still another reason why this genre is so awesome. Long live Venom!
Adam's rating: 9/10
BLACK METAL 1982 (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: The whole motherfucking record.
You could argue that Welcome to Hell is the most influential album Venom ever released, but you could also argue that the follow-up, Black Metal, is equally as important. For starters, they were still far more extreme than anyone else in 1982, and the fact they coined the term 'black metal' with the album's title is influential in itself. Yeah, yeah - I know this record likely sits closer to speed/thrash than it does black metal when you look at the direction of black metal itself. But hey, if Venom invented the term and considered themselves to be black metal wayyy back in the early '80s, before anyone else did, then who are we to argue?! And anyway, like Welcome to Hell, Black Metal is another landmark record in extreme metal as a whole.
This was the first Venom album I ever bought, and while I'm not sure I consider it to be one of those life-changing records for me, it's definitely one that I credit with the development of my own musical journey. I bought the 2002 Sanctuary reissue CD when I was 14, around the time I was first getting into thrash and speed metal, and played the hell out of it for a very long time. I remember hearing the opening title track, with it's ear-piercing saw for the first time and thinking something along the lines of "Jesus, I'd heard this album was recorded badly, but I didn't know it was this bad!". It doesn't of course, I just couldn't tell that I was listening to a circular saw literally cutting into metal - it soon fades out and the brazen thrashy 'Black Metal' kicks in. This is one of the greatest thrash metal tunes of all time if you ask me. Also one of the greatest black metal tunes of all time. So fast, so heavy, so kick-ass - and also features one of the best lyrical lines of all time in a metal track - "Lay down your soul to the gods rock n' roll!". Thanks Cronos!
Basically every song here is a classic. 'To Hell and Back' is a chugging, crushing number. 'Buried Alive' is a dark and atmospheric romp with a lengthy preacher reciting at a funeral... there's something about it however, that makes it oddly funny. It's like the musical equivalent of an old B-movie horror flick, and that pretty much sums up Venom's whole attitude to music. Shock value that was never meant to be taken seriously. Anyhow, 'Raise the Dead' is tip-top speed metal and 'Teacher's Pet' is fucking ridiculous lyrically. Like Van Halen's 'Hot for Teacher', only more explicit. Musically it's a 'banger, and features a surprisingly bluesy guitar solo from Mantas.
Songs like 'Leave Me in Hell', 'Sacrifice' and 'Heaven's On Fire' do exactly what you'd want them to. 'Sacrifice' in particular contains one of the catchiest choruses on the record. 'Heaven's On Fire' on the other hand, is one of the fastest and punkiest tracks Venom ever pumped out in those days. And 'Countess Bathory' is another all-time favourite for me. The main riff combined with the simple chorus is about as classic as metal gets. Also about as cliché too, but I mean that in a good way. I think Judas Priest's Painkiller is one of the most stereotypically metal albums of all time, but Priest invented that style, and as a result Painkiller is one of the greatest metal records ever to me. The same thing kind of applies to Venom, in that they really took pride in being as satanically silly and over-the-top as possible, and were all the better for it.
As I stated earlier, like it's predecessor, Black Metal is also a badly-recorded affair. But it's unpolished sound is exactly what adds to the album's charm, and also part of the reason why Venom were so influential to so many bands. I will say however, that while Black Metal retains a raw, primal tone, it still sounds better in almost every way to Welcome to Hell (in my opinion). Cronos' bass is cranked up to 11 like it was on the debut, but is still audible. The guitar tones are much better however, still ugly, but heavier and riffs that can be made out better. The drums still sound like cardboard boxes, only bigger! There's not really a lot of downsides I can think of. The musicianship is a tad better, with Mantas cranking out bigger and heavier riffs from start to finish - but the punky attitude is still there too. I guess when thrash metal really did become an established genre, I think there were albums better than this to emerge - but for 1982, this is bloody impressive - and heavy. Maybe 'Don't Burn the Witch' is weaker than rest too, but that's not saying much. You can still hear why the band were so impactful on it. And I don't really think Cronos sounds any better here than he did on Welcome to Hell, but there 'ya go.
There's people out there that prefer the debut, but there's also people out there that prefer Black Metal. I'm in the latter category. I think this is one of the greatest albums to come out of the NWOBHM movement (maybe even number 1 on a good day, but Maiden's Piece of Mind is pretty outstanding). Like Welcome to Hell, you could argue that the music is still kinda primitive by extreme metal standards these days, but that doesn't mean shit if you just love metal for metal. Even the album cover is iconic. The best Venom album in my humble opinion.
Adam's rating: 9.4/10
AT WAR WITH SATAN 1984 (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: 'At War with Satan', 'Rip Ride', 'Genocide', 'Cry Wolf', 'Women, Leather and Hell'
There's certain albums in my CD collection that I look at and think "Why did it take 'X' amount of years for me to own this album?". Venom's At War with Satan is one of those albums. I loved Welcome to Hell and Black Metal and they've both sat in my collection since I was 14 years old, well over half my life ago now. Yet I don't think I finally owned a copy of At War with Satan until I hit my mid-20s. I know I'd listened to it a few times many years before I bought my CD, but yeah... it just took me a long time accumulate my own copy!
Anyhow, Venom have a trilogy of absolute classics, starting with the debut and ending with At War with Satan, their third release. Go online and you'll find fans that can pick any of these first 3 records as their favourite. I think they're all great for different reasons, and while I think Black Metal will always be my favourite, I really can't argue with anybody if they picked this or the debut either. Put simply, this is another brilliant record.
Things get wayyy more ambitious this time around. I mean, the title track lasts 19 minutes and 53 seconds!! Who would'a thought the same band that were sometimes deemed amateurs by the press just a couple years prior could've pumped out a song as epic and ambitious as this - and executed it really well too!! 'At War with Satan' is undoubtedly the highlight of this record, and every time I listen to it I'm always surprised at how seamlessly it flows together. It doesn't feel like you've just sat through near enough 20 minutes of Venom metal, it just flows so nicely. There's about a million great Mantas riffs in there, plenty of progressive songwriting elements with some melodic parts and spoken word segments as well as a full story to tell. The story involves Hell invading Heaven and God battling Satan... or something? Honestly I don't care much for the story, but 'At War with Satan' just feels like classic Venom on a grander scale. And like I said, it works! I honestly think the band deserved a huge pat on the back for this, because Venom aren't a prog act. Nor would they ever attempt to write another song in this vein. They did it once - it worked, and then they carried on being Venom. Kudos.
The rest of the album picks up from where Black Metal left off. 'Rip Ride' is classic thrashy Venom, while 'Genocide' reminds me a lot of 'To Hell and Back' with it's fist-pumping, thunderous pacing. 'Cry Wolf' is awesome too; a mid-tempo, crushing number. 'Women, Leather and Hell' is a ridiculously silly title, and is all the more awesome for it. Cool song! The album ends with a skit, 'Aaaaaaaarrghh', which by default should really affect my rating of this record... yet somehow, it doesn't! I kind of expect Venom to do this sort of thing, so I actually think it adds to ridiculousness of the album in a positive way. Yeah.
The musicianship has once again improved, and the production too, has gotten ever-so-slightly more professional. The good news is that despite the production being that little bit cleaner, you really couldn't call it 'sleek', or 'crisp'. It's not full-on lo-fi anymore, that much is true, but the songs have gotten more intricate anyway that I wouldn't want it to sound exactly like Welcome to Hell again. And as for the musicianship, well, it's a good job it's gotten better, other wise the hugely ambitious title track would've probably sucked. There's no way in hell they could've made this album 3 years prior in 1981.
Complaints are mostly minor. 'Stand Up (And be Counted)' is probably my least favourite song here (and not as good as the Saxon track of the same name either!). It's a tad less inspired than the rest of the album, and the energy's not really there. Some good riffs on it though, so I won't call it bad. I think the title track does overshadow the rest of the 'normal' length songs to some degree too, but thankfully there's still top-tier Venom to be found elsewhere on the album. But to be honest, if you weren't won over by the first couple of albums, At War with Satan isn't going to be the album that'll win you over either. I think Venom had a very specific sound on these early records that just isn't gonna be for everyone. The NWOBHM spawned all kinds of different bands - but many of those bands had really great melodies and even some mainstream appeal. Iron Maiden don't sound like Raven, Diamond Head don't sound like Angel Witch and Saxon certainly don't sound like Venom.
So yeah, I still think Black Metal is my favourite (partly due to sentimental value). But at heart I think At War with Satan is basically as good as it's predecessor. Each of the first 3 records are all essential classics. Maybe they weren't so groundbreaking by this point in time; we'd already seen debut albums from Metallica and Slayer in 1983, but Venom in 1984 were still leaders of the metal underground and quite rightly too. Brilliant album.
Adam's rating: 9.2/10
POSSESSED 1985 (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: 'Powerdrive', 'Flytrap', 'Burn This Place (To the Ground)', 'Possessed', 'Hellchild', 'Suffer Not the Children', 'Too Loud (For the Crowd)'
The fourth and final album from the classic lineup's first stint was this, 1985's Possessed. General consensus is that this record is something of a misstep after the first 3, and I'm not exactly gonna argue with that. It is a downgrade from it's predecessors. However, I don't necessarily think it's entirely the songwriting itself that's a total letdown, for me most of it has to do with the way it's been recorded. Venom are no strangers to raw, lo-fi production, and Possessed is no exception. The trouble is that this time the guitars are buried beneath a wall of bass and it bugs me to no end. And where the fuck is the distortion?! The guitars on Black Metal sounded infinitely heavier than this. Listen to a song like 'Satanachist' and you'd think the band have regressed as musicians, especially after an ambitious piece of music like 'At War with Satan'! But like I say, the production masks a lot of the band's technicality. There's nothing really wrong with 'Satanachist' as a song, but the way it's been recorded just lets it down, sadly. It even has backing vocals... and I can just about hear them!!
That said, Venom in 1985 are still playing as hard and fast as they had been before, and all the OTT imagery, lyrics and attitude are here to stay. The first 4 songs - 'Powerdrive', 'Flytrap', 'Burn This Place (To the Ground)' and the aforementioned 'Satanchist' - will still kick your ass, and you can't argue otherwise. All of them are ugly, bulldozin' slices of Venom metal. 'Harmony Dies' sounds like a twisted version of Motorhead while the title track is an ungodly mess (which equates to good in Venom's world) in a way that only the band can deliver. Other tracks like 'Hellchild', 'Moonshine' and 'Wing and a Prayer' use the same formula as many of the songs from the first couple of records and if not for the production, could probably fit on either album. Apparently many of these tracks were already written pre-At War with Satan. Makes sense. The same can be said for 'Suffer Not the Children' and 'Voyeur'. Yet more frantic first-wave black metal. 'Too Loud (For the Crowd)' has that irresistibly punk-like aura about it.
This is a weird one to review. I like the songs a lot, even if they're not quite in the same league as what came before. I really do. They just don't resonate with me in the same way that the first 3 do, and that's partly because the demo-like production just isn't working as well this time around, but I also think it's because there's less sentimental value to this record for me. True, I didn't pick up At War with Satan until my mid-20s either, but the songs on that album are fantastic whichever way you look at 'em. With Possessed, I've given it a couple of YouTube listens over the years, but never actually had a physical copy of my own until 2024!! And my own copy isn't even a standalone one, but the version that's featured in the 2022 box set In Nomine Satanas!! Yep, older CD pressings of Possessed have skyrocketed in price as the years have gone by, and I wasn't willing to fork out for one, so my box set copy in it's cardboard sleeve will have to do. It worked out cheaper to buy the box set, which features all the first 4 studio albums, the live record Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, a bonus disc of old unreleased recordings and a DVD of a live show from 1984 - and I bought mine for just £17 brand new. Great value!
Back to Possessed though, I still think this just about qualifies as a classic album overall. Yes, the production's flawed and not in the way you want it to be. But there's just something about the band's early period that's hard not to love, even when they're not properly on form like they are here. I do get used to the mix rather quickly, even if I don't particularly like it. But the songs are still great, with no total duffers to speak of whatsoever. It's all about the edgy attitude, and Possessed certainly still has that same attitude going for it, which is why it works so well.
Adam's rating: 8/10
CALM BEFORE THE STORM 1987 (Mental Metal)
- Standouts: 'Black Xmas', 'Metal Punk', 'Calm Before the Storm', 'Gypsy'
By 1987 Mantas had left the band for the first time and been replaced by not 1, but 2 new guitar players - Jim Clare and Mike Hickey. The resulting album was Calm Before the Storm.
This is not considered to be one of Venom's best, and there's a definite shift in tone here even if the music is still pretty heavy overall. The production is a fair bit cleaner by comparison and the new guitarists often seem to add more melody to the music. The satanic imagery of pentagrams and whatever else was also lacking here, from the album cover all the way up to the ridiculous photo of the band in my CD copy. The band almost look more like an American arena rock group in this picture with their white shirts and red blazers, and the distinct lack of any black leather and spikes!! So that alone is a warning sign, surely?
To be fair though, the album's really not that bad. There's very little shock value anymore, that much is true, but there's no denying that this is still metal even if it's not quite the brand of metal you've come to expect from Venom. There's more melody in the guitars, and part of that is due to the inclusion of having a second guitarist... and also some minor keyboard work. Thankfully the keyboards are kept to a minimum, but there's a definite sense of melody in these songs that was lacking in their early material. The actual guitar solos are definitely more intricate and shreddy than what Mantas was doing on the first few albums, which deserves some credit. Again, it's not very Venom-like in the traditional sense, but given the direction of the music, I suppose the guitar solos and licks do kind of fit the songs here.
I do think songs like the speed metal 'Black Xmas' and the thrashy 'Metal Punk' do somewhat recapture the sound of classic Venom. The title track is cool too, it almost reminds me of that OG '80s power metal style. Also, 'Fire' and 'Gypsy' are kinda vicious too. The added backing vocals don't really help; in fact, one of my biggest pet peeves with this album are all the backing vocals. They're just bad, and sound out of tune to my ears. But the riffs are definitely in the same vein as Mantas, and Cronos himself still sounds like the same old Cronos at the end of the day.
I don't consider Calm Before the Storm to be as bad some fans will have you believe, but I'm totally on board with the idea that Venom were suffering an identity crisis during this short-lived period of the band. Trying to link the term 'black metal' with this record just doesn't fit. To me, Calm Before the Storm is a competent '80s traditional metal album, with none of the blackened elements the band pioneered with their early works. There's not really any track on here I dislike - I like '80s speed metal after all, and all the tracks on this album are decently performed for sure. The problem is that it's the kind of album you've heard a million times before, and done better. Don't get me wrong, I've also heard far worse - but this just ain't my Venom!! I'm giving it a 6/10, because as a heavy metal album from the 1980s, it's okay. But as a Venom album, it doesn't cut the mustard.
This album is available on Spotify to stream, but it has a different title. It's called Under a Spell and features some pretty awful album artwork. Weirdly, the album's been re-released a few times over the years as both Under a Spell and Beauty & the Beast for some reason. My CD copy is a 2020 reissue from a European label called Mental Metal, and features the original title and artwork. I picked it up maybe 3 years ago now, but already it appears to be out of print. Vinyl copies are readily available, but CD versions seem to be a little more pricey right now.
Adam's rating: 6/10
PRIME EVIL 1989 (Under One Flag)
- Standouts: Everything bar 'Skool Daze'After the slipup that was Calm Before the Storm, this is much better! But wait, this ain't the same Venom! Mantas is back, and in place of Cronos is Tony 'Demolition Man' Dolan on vocals/bass from the NWOBHM band Atomkraft. There's also a rhythm guitarist called Al Barnes on this album, but from the looks of things he left shortly after the recording of Prime Evil which explains the photos of this era showing only the other 3 guys. The band apparently disbanded after a short tour in support of Calm Before the Storm, and Cronos went on to pursue a solo career, meaning Abaddon had to rebuild the band from scratch. Anyhow, Prime Evil was the resulting album from the partial reunion of Mantas, released in 1989.
I've been a big fan of this album for as long as I've owned my copy. According to my original review (which I deleted 'cos it was crap), I bought this in 2018 immediately after seeing Venom Inc. live. For those unaware, Venom Inc. is an alternate Venom formed in 2015 featuring Demolition Man, Mantas and (originally) Abaddon on drums. Oh, and they're awesome. As good as the Cronos-fronted Venom we also have if you ask me. But that's a different story. In short, Prime Evil was a return to form for Venom. You'd think the lack of Cronos' presence would severely affect the quality of the music and songwriting here, but Demolition Man's vocal style is so goddamn similar you'd be forgiven for thinking it's actually Cronos singing! I'll admit that if you played me anything from this record, and something from the OG Venom immediately afterwards, I'd be able to tell the difference between both blokes' vocals. But in my opinion there's really no downsides to Dolan's vocals anyhow, he fits the band like a glove.
And as for the songs themselves, there's some brilliant tracks to sink your teeth into here. The opening title track is a surprisingly groovy, heavy affair with some excellent guitar leads and powerful vocals to boot. There's also a sense of melody in those riffs, but not in the same vein as Calm Before the Storm. The album still has the dark, blackened edge of the early works, but the music is much more sophisticated and a tad less goofy now. I guess Mantas had gotten much better as a guitar player from a technical playing perspective and it translates well into the songs on this album. This is not Black Metal part 2 - this is a more established Venom. The satanic imagery is still there, but the band know they can't shock people with it any more. Instead they just got better musically.
Erm, back to the songs! Tracks like 'Parasite', 'Carnivorous' and one of my personal favourites, 'Skeletal Dance', are full-on blackened thrash-fests. Much, much better than anything Calm Before the Storm had to offer, and far heavier too. 'Blackened Are the Priests' sounds like old-school Venom with better production values. There's also a kick-ass cover of Black Sabbath's 'Megalomania'. It misses out the lengthy intro of the original and only focuses on the second half of the song, but it's all the better for it. It means the album flows much better, and the cover itself is dripping in atmosphere. 'Insane' is an appropriately-titled full-speed metal assault. It sounds, well, insane! 'Harder than Ever' is a razor-sharp cut while 'Into the Fire' slots in with the rest of the songs very nicely.
Every song on this record is great except maybe 'Skool Daze'. This track is like a silly throwback to 'Teachers Pet' from Black Metal, but it still deserves it's place on the album. It's not perfect, but it's still amusing enough. Maybe my other biggest complaint would be that the production isn't mixed 100% to my tastes. The guitars could do with being cranked up just another notch, and the drums have a very '80s reverby kind of sound going for them. Not a huge deal as I still rather like the production overall, there's just room for improvement is all. I guess purists might not agree with Dolan being in place of Cronos or the cleaner production, but that's their loss.
Prime Evil is a top 3 Venom album for me. Black Metal and At War with Satan will always take the number 1 and 2 slots, but the number 3 has to be Prime Evil. I really do think this is one of their best - yep, I'll take it over Welcome to Hell! The production is much more professional now, yes, but the songs are as heavy as ever, the musicianship is tight and the album as a whole just feels like a natural progression from the first 3 or 4 records, and seems to forget Calm Before the Storm exists completely - in my head anyway! A highly underrated metal gem from the late '80s, so check it out! Widely available at cheap prices on CD and vinyl too right now, so there's no excuse to not pick this one up.
Adam's rating: 9.1/10
TEMPLES OF ICE 1991 (Under One Flag)
- Standouts: 'Even in Heaven', 'In Memory of (Paul Miller 1964-90)', 'Playtime', 'Acid', 'Arachnid', 'Speed King', 'Temples of Ice'
Finally! The missing album in my Venom collection. I held off buying this one for a while, hoping I'd get a good deal somewhere - but eventually I caved in and bit the bullet. So I paid £28 (including shipping) from a Discogs seller - CD versions of this album seem to cost more than vinyl in a lot of cases, and I wanted the complete Venom discography on CD. So yeah, I paid far more than I'd have liked, but sometimes you just gotta face the firing squad and pay up. Was it worth the money? Probably not! But hey, it's just me having a serious case of collectors' syndrome!
Anyway, Temples of Ice is the second album from the Demolition Man-era, and musically it sounds relatively close to Prime Evil, if a bit more melodic in places and a touch less of the 'evil factor' about it. So in that sense, it's a little less typically Venom-ish than usual. Thankfully we're not talkin' Calm Before the Storm levels of change here - Temples still sounds much more Venom by comparison, and the musicianship is far better than said album. That said, there's definitely some experimentation going on here, even if it is minimal. The album is lacking in goofy Satanism too, for better or worse. And in terms of production, well, on first inspection it seems to lack any "oomph", but after 30 seconds of listening, I always find myself completely forgetting about the production values and enjoying the record. So not a big deal, really. In terms of actual performances, Dolan's vocals are as good here as they were on Prime Evil, and I might even argue that Mantas' lead guitar playing has gotten even more technical this time around.
Opener 'Tribes' is fast, dirty and punky in typical Venom fashion. Not one of their best openers, but solid. 'Even in Heaven' is mostly heavy, but has some acoustic passages in it. Mantas' soloing on it is very impressive. 'Trinity MCMXLV 0530' feels like a conclusion to 'Even in Heaven', and is as frantic as you'd like it to be. Good stuff! As a Venom fan, how can I not like it? The catchiest track here is most definitely 'In Memory of (Paul Miller 1964-90)' - with it's title and lyrical matter, I was expecting some sort of sombre ballad. But no, this track is constructed by an insanely groovy riff that sticks in my head. It's not typically Venom whatsoever, but is still a really fun song either way. I did some Googling and I still don't know who Paul Miller was, I'm guessing a good friend of one of the band members who passed during the recording of the album? 'Faerie Tale' too, is not what you'd expect to hear from this band musically. It's a very melodic, traditional slice of heavy metal - NWOBHM-sounding to the core, just not in the same way that Venom were. It's good though, even if it's not one of my favourites from this disc.
'Playtime' is a humorous slab of speed metal, and 'Acid' is appropriately fast and nasty. It even has some hardcore punk-like riffage in it. 'Arachnid' is possibly the most traditionally-Venom track here, an ugly thrash monger in the best way possible. They even stuck another cover track in here, this time it's their own take on Deep Purple's classic 'Speed King', from In Rock! It lacks the intro of the original, and wastes no time in rocking your socks off! I don't know if it's just me being a Purple fanboy, but I like this and their Sabbath cover of 'Megalomania' from the previous record a lot too. Finally, the title track is classic Venom in every sense of word. It's almost proggy, and ends on a surprisingly atmospheric outro.
All in all, Temples of Ice is step-down from Prime Evil, but I wouldn't call it an all-out misstep as such because I still really dig this one. The album's a bit more musical than I was expecting, and a little less "evil" than, erm, Prime Evil! But the fact of the matter is, I like every track on here. They're all good - some better than others, sure, but a very solid effort from start to finish. Hell, songs like 'Arachnid', 'Acid', 'In Memory of' and 'Temples of Ice' are top-tier Venom if you ask me. Very cool stuff. This era of Venom is seriously underrated!
Unless this album is reissued anytime soon, good luck finding a cheap copy (on CD at least). Like I said at the beginning of this review, I forked out in the end because it was the only album I needed to finish my Venom collection, and I couldn't wait any longer. The good news is that it's on Spotify for streaming at least.
Adam's rating: 8.2/10
THE WASTE LANDS 1992 (Under One Flag)
- Standouts: 'Cursed', 'I'm Paralysed', 'Need to Kill', 'Wolverine'
The last of the Demolition Man-era albums (at least until Venom Inc. formed in 2015 anyway), was this - 1992's The Waste Lands. Prime Evil took the core values of the early Venom records, polished them up and made them sound more professional. The result was one of their strongest albums ever. Temples of Ice was a bit more melodic and largely lacked the evil aura of the band, but was still a top-notch heavy metal record. The Waste Lands however, is possibly the most experimental album in the Venom catalogue. They even had a dedicated keyboard player at this point!
The album kicks off with the vast, almost epic-sounding 'Cursed'. This track has elements of doom, prog, and is dripping with atmosphere. The keyboards provide all the spacey overtones. And honestly... I really like it! It's a very well-written and performed song. Not traditionally-Venom in any sense of the word (aside from maybe Dolan's vocals), but a killer tune none-the-less. 'I'm Paralysed' and 'Black Legions', both of which are much faster, are a bit more predictable. They're drenched in reverb and atmosphere once again, which is not typical of the band. I think if you took away the big production of this album and traded it for the same primal tones of Black Metal or At War with Satan etc., you'd have some fairly standard Venom tunes here. But The Waste Lands' production makes them sound different, but still very cool - just for different reasons. I got into them both on my first listen almost immediately. The same can be said for 'The Riddle of Steel'. Meanwhile, 'Need to Kill' still goes hard, even with the more expansive production and lengthy outro.
'Kissing the Beast' and 'Wolverine' sound like they could easily fit on Temples of Ice, but 'Crucified' on the other hand, is certainly an oddity in the catalogue. Not in a bad way by any means, it's just highly melodic and if it wasn't for Demolition Man's naturally aggressive-sounding vocals, you'd be forgiven for calling it 'hard rock'. Like I said though, it's not a bad tune by it's own accord. Also, 'Shadow King' sounds like any NWOBHM band other than Venom! Again, actually rather good in some ways, just far more musical than is typical of Venom. I'll admit that the moody spoken-word closer 'Clarisse', is filler. The clean guitars I kinda nice I suppose, but the song has no real structure, and when it does finally go somewhere, it's over before you know it.
This one's easily the weakest of the Dolan-era to my ears. Some of these tracks are about as far removed from Venom as it gets. I will say that pretty much all of them still sound good to me at least, even if they're not necessarily good Venom songs. And to be honest, The Waste Lands in general was still better than I was expecting it to be (some mixed opinions of it online) - there's still a good chunk of tracks here that sound like the Venom I know and love, even with the richer production and keyboards. And 'Cursed', despite it's unusual style, is probably one of the best Venom songs ever written. That said, I'm struggling to give this record any more than a 7/10. I like it enough to consider it a 'good' album, and other than maybe 'Clarisse', there isn't a song on here I outright dislike. But at the same time, many of the best tracks here still don't compete with what Prime Evil, or even Temples of Ice had to offer. Still, it's nice to have The Waste Lands in my collection now. I didn't pay over the odds for it like I did Temples of Ice, but at the same time don't expect to be finding a bargain bin-priced copy in the near future.
Adam's rating: 7/10
CAST IN STONE 1997 (SPV)
- Standouts: 'The Evil One', 'Raised in Hell', 'All Devils Eve', 'Destroyed and Damned', 'Flight of the Hydra'
After making 3 albums with Tony Dolan (1989's Prime Evil, 1991's Temples of Ice and 1992's The Waste Lands), OG Venom reunited in 1995 and we got this record from them, 1997's Cast in Stone. Yep, Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon are back, and things have understandably changed a little since they were last playing together. If you listened to anything the band released between 1985's Possessed and this however, some musical differences here and there aren't surprising. Don't go into Cast in Stone expecting raw, sloppy, demo-like speed metal in the same vein as Welcome to Hell. This was the '90s; the guitars often sound like they've been tuned down a notch, and the music is even heavier.
The album kicks off with the crushing 'The Evil One'. Surprisingly, it's a mid-tempo cut and not a full-speed thrasher, but the simplistic riffs are so heavy and bruising that it does the job rather nicely. Of course, 'Raised in Hell' ups the tempo and is much faster by comparison. A rock-solid blackened thrash piece. 'All Devils Eve' sounds closer to classic Venom, and is 100% old-school speed metal. The playing is tighter of course, but it still sounds like pure Venom to me. I don't think a song like 'Bleeding' could've existed in the '80s. It has some modern metal playing elements in it, but also blends Venom's signature style rather well. Pretty good. And I dig the moody 'Destroyed and Damned' a lot. The haunting intro somewhat reminds me of Metallica's 'Fade to Black', and it's weird to hear Cronos do spoken-word vocals - but it works. When it gets going though, the slow, chunky riffs are there and this track in general is a highlight for me.
There's other decent material to be had here. 'Flight of the Hydra' is fast and nasty as hell, which is what I want Venom to sound like. I like 'Infectious' too. The riff is, well, infectious! Moreover, it's heavy. The production is strong too. Mantas' guitar tones are spot-on, and everything has been mixed rather well overall. It's a far cry from the early days! But in all fairness, if they'd deliberately tried to come up with something lo-fi as the first 2 albums at this point in their career, I'm not entirely sure it'd work. They would bring back some of that rawness on some of their later albums, but not necessarily in the same manner of Welcome to Hell and Black Metal. Of course, I'll explain later on, when I actually get 'round to reviewing said albums!
Sadly, there's issues to be had along the way - particularly in the second half of the record. 'Domus Mundi' is pretty lame in my opinion. This one has some annoying sequenced percussion on it, and I just can't seem to get into the groove of things. It's not especially horrible as such, just experimental and rubs the wrong way a little with me. 'Kings of Evil' is far too slow and generic, and the riffs sound like AI-generated Venom. Not unlistenable, but totally uninspired. And honestly, I can say the exact same thing about 'You're All Gonna Die'. 'Swarm' is a weird one also. I can't decide if I like it or not! There's industrial-like samples on it, but for whatever reason they don't clash as bad as the tribal drums on 'Domus Mundi'. Maybe it's one of those tracks I enjoy depending on what mood I'm in?
But my biggest problem with this album is the fact it's too fucking long!! 14 songs is far too many, and by default there's gonna be filler to sit through. Tracks like 'God's Forsaken' and 'Mortals', while inoffensive (maybe not lyrically though, 'cos this is Venom!), have me trying to remember just how they actually go and what they sound like whenever I look at this CD's tracklisting.
On the plus side, Cast in Stone also offers a bonus CD of re-recorded classics from their early days - songs like 'Bloodlust', 'Die Hard', 'Burstin' Out', 'Acid Queen' etc. - but no really obvious cuts like 'Black Metal', 'In League with Satan' or 'Welcome to Hell'. It's a fun enough listen, hearing these oldies with modern production values. Nothing groundbreaking of course, but the fact they included it as a bonus and didn't charge fans full price for an individual CD is commendable. This is how re-recorded songs should be sold. Annihilator did the same thing with the special edition release of the 2013 album Feast.
This is an album that has a decent handful of tracks I really like. I also really like the production, and the bonus disc is a nice little addition too. Basically, there's more than enough material here for me to consider this a good album and recommend it, but there's definitely a fair share of filler as well. As I said, 14 songs is too many. I sometimes think that this reunion came along at the wrong time; the '90s was a strange time for metal, especially if you came from the '80s originally. It also reinforces the fact that Venom weren't always perfect under the original lineup. Just look at how good Prime Evil is. At least Cast in Stone sounds like Venom to me and I still enjoy a decent chunk of it.
Adam's rating: 7/10
RESURRECTION 2000 (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: 'Resurrection', 'Vengeance', 'War Against Christ', 'Pain', 'Pandemonium', 'Black Flame (of Satan)', 'Leviathan'
Cronos and Mantas - 2 guys that aren't exactly the best of mates - managed to hold it together long enough to record a follow-up album to Cast in Stone. And here it is, 2000's Resurrection.
Well, I like this one a fair bit more than Cast in Stone. Even though musically it doesn't do a lot differently than it's predecessor, they've tightened the screws with the songwriting and as a result almost everything has improved this time around. It's not like Cast in Stone was an especially bad album, it just wasn't the 'banger of a comeback you'd want from Venom. Thankfully Resurrection is, in my opinion, one of the best latter-day Venom releases. And by 'latter-day', I have to remind myself that this album is now 24 freaking years old!!
Mantas consistently jams nasty riffs down 'yer throat from start to finish on this CD. Many of them are far better than what you heard on the last record, and even though the first 3 songs aren't necessarily the fastest songs Venom have ever penned, they all kick ass. 'Resurrection', 'Vengeance' and 'War Against Christ' are all great numbers - dominatingly heavy, packed full of crunchy riffs and savage Cronos vocals. I think the production really works in their favour; it's modern and crisp, but not glossy or shiny either. I might even argue that Resurrection is the heaviest Venom album because of the production. Considering that the playing is far tighter than any of their earliest records (just listen to Mantas' picking patterns and pinched harmonics on 'All There Is Fear'), I think the modern production values are a good thing. I said in the last review that the band would bring back a rawer tone on some of the later records, and I can understand why. But I'm glad they tried to sound as professional as possible sonically with Resurrection. It worked on Prime Evil, and it works here too.
'Pain' is my favourite song on this album. This track is a monster of a blackened thrasher, and tears your face of with it's intensity. I've lost count of just how many killer riffs are present on this song! So goddamn good! Also, 'Pandemonium' might just be the catchiest, grooviest song they ever recorded. Massively infectious riffing on this one! 'Black Flame (of Satan)' is pretty awesome too. Super-tight, very fast, very bruising. It sounds like a more technically-proficient Venom when you put it side-by-side with Welcome to Hell or Black Metal. But most importantly, it sounds 100% like Venom. 'Loaded' and 'Firelight' have some modern metal techniques in them, but they do work overall. I wouldn't call them standouts, but the riffage is rock-solid once again. 'Man, Myth and Magic' features some cool basslines and I think 'Leviathan' is a decent note to end the album on.
Resurrection's problems are similar to Cast in Stone's, only less severe now. The songs are mostly better across the board... but considering there's 14 of them, a few filler tracks were inevitable really ('Control Freak' is 'meh', the chorus in 'Disbeliever' is totally uninspired and 'Thirteen' is forgettable). But yeah... 14 songs is too long again!! The whole record lasts more than 55 minutes, which I just think is unnecessarily long for an album of this ilk. Cut it down to 40 minutes of kicking your ass instead, and I feel like the album could be close to the greatness of Prime Evil.
The good news is that even the filler tracks aren't completely worthless simply because there's good riffs to be had on each and every track here. Mantas is on fire, and makes this record what it is. Speaking of Mantas, this was his last album with Venom (although we'd get Venom Inc. some years later), but also the first with Cronos' brother Antton on drums. Yeah, the whole thing is too long and can be tiresome after a certain point, but I think this might be the most underrated Venom album at the end of the day. Prime Evil is another contender, but I think the fans know that one is great. It's the critics who forgot about it. Resurrection on the other hand, gets far less press and I don't know why. I'm gonna sound a bit gatekeep-y and elitist when I say that there was a lot of metal being released in 2000 that I don't like. It was prime-time for nu metal. But for me this record is easily one of the better metal releases to come out that year. Yep, this is Venom doing what they've always done - B movie-esque, deliberately brazen blackened thrash metal. And it's great!
Well, this album was far better than I remembered. I think I picked up the 2007 Sanctuary reissue way back at my first ever Bloodstock festival in 2010, and I would've been 18 - so it's been in my collection for years then. I think the last time I listened to it was when I wrote my crappy first review of it back in 2017, and I gave it a 7.5/10. So I've always liked it, it's just now I think it's honestly one of the better albums in this discography. Sadly, I still don't own every Venom album - many are out of print and expensive, but I'm working on it.
Adam's rating: 8.3/10
SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET 2002 (Sanctuary)A compilation of unreleased demos, remixes and rarities... a couple of unreleased tracks too. Everything here focuses primarily on the early days of the band (the CD was originally released in 1993, but I have the 2002 reissue). The 20 minute re-edited version of 'At War With Satan' is cool, plus the unreleased songs 'Dead On Arrival', 'Hounds of Hell', 'Bitch Witch' and 'Sadist (Mistress of the Whip)' make it worth owning for die hard fans of the band and like the material on Welcome to Hell and Black Metal, display what the early extreme metal scene was all about. I can't say I care much for rest of the stuff on here. I mean, those early Venom albums basically sounded like demos anyway! A collector's disc, no more, no less. I have no idea how this thing ended up in my collection. Must've found it in a second-hand record store at some point in time.
Adam's rating: 6/10
METAL BLACK 2006 (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: 'Antechrist', 'Burn in Hell', 'House of Pain', 'A Good Day to Die', 'Metal Black'
Unlike the spit n' polish of Resurrection, 2006's Metal Black desperately attempts to recapture the sound of old-school Venom. The production is dirty and gritty as all hell, and I almost feel hypocritical in liking it so much. I love Resurrection, and I think it's songs really benefited from the modern production values. But it is kinda nice to see the band return to such a ragged tone on Metal Black all the same. The album title is silly though. All Cronos did was swap the order of the words 'Black' and 'Metal', and even the album cover is a deliberate throwback to the 1982 classic. But whatever, I'm no Venom purist anyhow, and I think the whole concept of this record is kinda fun.
The songs within are a different story however. Yes, the riffs and musicianship is punkier and fits more within the realms of classic Venom, but Cronos isn't copying his old material note-for-note here either. I think the lack of Mantas, and the inclusion of Mykvs (Mike Hickey, who also played on 1987's Calm Before the Storm) may have something to do with this. I think Mantas tried to evolve Venom for the time he was present in the band. Now that he's gone, I can only assume Cronos was in control and wanted to make Venom sound a little more retro again. In fact, I think most Venom albums from Metal Black onward have followed a similar-ish direction.
One thing I will say however, is that the guitars are still tuned down far lower here than they were in the '80s. This automatically makes the music heavy as fuck once again, and you can immediately hear this on the ass-kicking opener 'Antechrist'. Cool song! Fast, ugly, brutal... just how I like my Venom! 'Burn in Hell' and 'House of Pain' pretty much sound exactly how you'd expect them too... again, ugly and brutal. Maybe not as fast as 'Antechrist', but still decent. 'Death & Dying' has some nice wah-wah leads on it, and a jackhammer flow. 'Rege Satanas' works for me as well. The riff is simplistic and repetitive, but it sticks in my head and gives me old NWOBHM vibes. And in general, I think Cronos' vocal performance here is as gruff and in-your-face as ever throughout the CD.
'A Good Day to Die' is another standout, mainly just because it's fast. I just always really enjoy Venom doing speed metal, 'nuff said. 'Lucifer Rising' and 'Blessed Dead' are Venom being Venom and kicking butt as usual, while 'Sleep When I'm Dead' has some surprisingly melodic guitar playing on it towards the middle of the track. It helps to keep the music fresh. The manic fury of the title track is probably one of the best songs on the record too.
Sadly, this is another album that suffers from being too fucking long!! Yep, 14 songs once again, and 57 minutes long in total!! So naturally that means there's an expected number of filler songs to sit through here. 'Darkest Realm'? It's okay, but I've already forgotten how it goes as I type this. 'Assassin' has no standout riffs to speak of, and 'Hours of Darkness' is as generic as it gets musically. I have zilch to say about it. 'Maleficarvm' is just about saved by the musical mid-section, but the rest of it is autopilot Venom. Like the majority of Venom albums however, the filler is thankfully not overly offensive to my ears. Dull, yes. But shit, no. I also think that even the better songs in general aren't quite as good here as they were on Resurrection (there's no top-tier tracks within the discography as a whole here, just a lot of good ones instead), and I don't think Mykvs is as good a guitarist as Mantas.
So I definitely prefer Resurrection over Metal Black; I think Mantas is just the guy when it comes to writing Venom's best riffs, and the fact he's not on this record is definitely noticeable. But really, Metal Black does things differently enough to the point where I can still easily recommend it at the very least. It's a good Venom album, plain and simple. It's much dirtier and fuck-ugly next to it's predecessor - not necessarily heavier, but far rawer indeed. And if that's how you'd prefer Venom to sound, then you'll probably enjoy it more than Resurrection. As for me, I do welcome the return of a sloppier lo-fi sound once again, and all the usual boxes I like to see are definitely ticked. The music is heavy, the lyrics are offensive... yep, it's definitely Venom! Also, I think there's a nice long list of good tracks on this album. There's just nowhere near as many great ones this time around. That's where it falls short. A good album that I dig a lot (in fact, I like it more than Cast in Stone despite the absence of Mantas), it's just not a classic.
Metal Black is another album I've owned for many years, and one that I seem to enjoy more-so now than I did when I was younger. I've always been a Venom fan; they're not a top 5 favourite band of mine, but I'm definitely a serious fan. Black Metal is one of the more important metal albums in my collection, and the older I've gotten, the more of their discography I've picked up. And by default I seem to like Venom even more as a 32 year old man than I did as a 15 year old! It sort of reminds me of how I felt when I wrote my Mayhem discography page last year. I've been listening to that band for donkeys years, and by the time I'd finished writing that post, I was a bigger Mayhem fan than I'd ever been.
Adam's rating: 7.5/10
HELL 2008 (Universal)
- Standouts: 'Power & the Glory', 'Hell', 'Evil Perfection', 'Stab U in the Back', 'Kill the Music', 'USA for Satan'
This was the first Venom album I ever bought from new when it first dropped in 2008. Christ! That's a long time ago now! Anyway, I liked it a lot then, and hearing it again for the first time in a while now, I still like it. It follows in similar fashion to Metal Black, and the production is still dirty as all hell - just in a different sort of way this time. I find the guitars have a little more bite this time around, and aren't buried in the mix so much. Cronos' bass is hugely muddy (thankfully in a positive way) and plays a bigger part sonically as well. I think the production may be off-putting for some listeners to begin with, but it's never really been an issue for me. Like Metal Black, I think the primal tones of Hell only work in the album's favour.
There's also been a change in lineup once again. Guitarist Mykvs has departed and in his place is Stuart Dixon aka La Rage, who for whatever reason would drop the 'La' part of his stage name after this album. He fits the band just fine, and his riffing here is similar to that of Mykvs on Metal Black. This is just a speculation, but I think after Mantas left the band, Cronos wanted to take a Venom in a very specific direction. Pretty much all these albums from Metal Black forward seem to be rawer and more stripped-down than what Mantas had been doing with the music for many years. Of course, I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but that's just my guess. As much as I love the Resurrection and Prime Evil albums, I don't think I'll ever be dismissive towards Cronos taking the band back to their roots either.
The songs here are decent once again. The album begins with a couple of up-tempo, savage numbers - 'Straight to Hell' and 'The Power & the Glory'. The former is super basic and punky, and sits very close musically to the Venom at the start of their career. The latter has a really catchy riff that I can't help but bang my head to. 'Hand of God' is a mid-tempo stomper and has some cool drumming on it, 'Fall from Grace' is once again stripped-down and punky while the title track is signature Venom with a hint of doominess that ends up making it one of the best tracks on the album.
'Evil Perfection' is one of the fastest, thrashiest tracks on the album, and as a result I like it by default. The galloping 'Stab U in the Back' is about as old-school as it gets, 'Armageddon' is rustic heavy metal, and 'Kill the Music' is a fast, lyrically-sarcastic number that once again sounds like retro Venom. I can only give it props for that. 'Evilution Devilution' is very memorable purely due to it's silly (but cool) title and chorus. 'Blood Sky' is sludgy and moody as fuck while 'USA for Satan' is a speedy, pummelling cut. Dumb lyrics, yes, but forgivable because this is Venom!
Yet again this album is too long. 13 tracks this time, but it still manages to clock in at 55 minutes long. They could have easily cut the closing instrumental 'Dirge/Awakening' from the tracklisting and you'd be left with an album that's just as good. It's not that the instrumental is particularly terrible as such; it's a slow, doomy and atmospheric way to conclude the record - but I just feel like it wasn't needed either. Filler in every sense of the word, but overall there's definitely less filler on Hell than there is on Metal Black. Many of the songs here are actually more basic musically, but more streamlined all the same. I find them to be more memorable overall, even if none of them are blowing me away.
In the end, this album's not quite a 'must-have', but it's not too far off being great either. The band aren't doing anything particularly special or creative with Hell (even the simple album title is about as stereotypically-Venom as it gets), and they're touching on just about every single heavy metal cliché in the book at this point. But they're kind of the inventors of those clichés, and Cronos is self-aware of exactly what Venom is - so I can dig it. He's playing it safe with the band now, and I don't blame him 'cos you can at least expect something good and listenable from them at the very least. I like this one a tad more than I do Metal Black. I also used to have a really cool longsleeve shirt sporting this album's artwork on the front, and tracklisting on the back, that I bought way back when I was in college. No idea where it's gone. I think I accidentally threw it out when I moved house, and I can't find a replacement now!
Adam's rating: 7.7/10
FALLEN ANGELS 2011 (Spinefarm)
- Standouts: 'Hammerhead', 'Nemesis', 'Pedal to the Metal', 'Punk's Not Dead', 'Death Be Thy Name', 'Fallen Angels'
This page has been up since 2017, but as of 2024, I've been updating old reviews and also adding new ones to it. I've recently picked up all the late-career Venom albums that I missed out on. As it turns out, I didn't actually own anything this band had recorded from 2008's Hell onward (also excluding Venom Inc.). Despite my love for this band, for whatever reason I just never prioritised buying any of their more recent stuff, and I'm literally paying the price now because I had to go on Discogs to find a copy of 2011's Fallen Angels. I bagged a copy from a UK seller for £11 including postage, but on eBay this album seems to be selling for a minimum of £20 for some reason. It's clearly out of print right now. The condition of my copies' jewel case was a bit crappy, but the inserts, booklet and CD itself were all in good nick. So I swapped jewel cases with Trivium's Ascendancy (an album I don't like from a band I couldn't give 2 shits about, and have no idea why I own in the first place!), and all is good!
So anyway, Fallen Angels is Venom alright. It's the second album with guitarist Rage, and the first with drummer Dante. It seems to be the most stable Venom lineup in years, 'cos they're both still in the band to this day (plus I saw this lineup at Bloodstock in 2016, can confirm they were awesome). Right away the band kick things off with a slow, crushing number called 'Hammerhead'. There's a surprising amount of groove in it's riffs, yet the song still retains an old-school feel. And both 'Nemesis' and 'Pedal to the Metal' are certainly Venom doing their usual brand of retro blackened thrash. They're both great! 'Lap of the Gods' once again mixes retro Venom with a hint of modern groove. And it works! 'Damnation of Souls' is thunderous, 'Beggarman' is slow and chunky and 'Hail Satanas' gives me NWOBHM vibes, which is only ever a good thing.
'Punk's Not Dead' has to be good too, right?! Well, it is! No, it's not an Exploited cover, just Venom mixing punk with their brand of speed metal and doing it well. Lyrically the concept reminds me of 'Kill the Music' from Hell. You're also getting another speedy monger in 'Death Be Thy Name', and the title track is excellent. It has a slow-building, moody introduction that really works, and once it gets going this song is a metal monster. Probably the best on the record to me. There's absolutely some differences between Fallen Angels and it's predecessor, Hell. I think the former album may be slightly heavier overall, but those songs are definitely more simplistic than what Fallen Angels has to offer. Don't expect virtuoso playing - this is Venom after all, but the band are definitely playing a little tighter this time around, and there's more complexity to a lot of the riffs by comparison. And I find a lot of these songs to be faster too, which is always a positive in my books! The production has also been cleaned up somewhat, yet remains gritty at the same time. Not entirely sure how Cronos pulls this off, but he does!!
A lot of the complaints I have regarding this one are pretty much the same as any of my gripes with the last bunch of albums. Yep, it's once again too long at 57 minutes and too many songs at 13 in total (15 if you count the Special Edition's bonus tracks). I just find it hard to digest that many songs when they all follow a similar-ish path musically. Again, it makes for some filler - 'Sin' for example, is a song that would work just fine without the mid-section, but drags on far too long because of it. 'Lest We Forget' is a relatively pointless acoustic instrumental that I guess tries to hearken back to 'Mayhem with Mercy' from Welcome to Hell? Also, 'Valley of the Kings' sounds tired and the riffs are plodding. Meh.
Another very strong record here, but it's unnecessarily long length holds it back from true greatness once again in my opinion. There's not enough top-tier tracks for me to give it an 8/10 either, but I will say that I think overall the best songs on Fallen Angels are better than the best songs on Hell, if that makes any sense. So in this regard I think the album is ever-so-slightly stronger overall. Another CD I can totally recommend, but not without it's faults.
Adam's rating: 7.9/10
FROM THE VERY DEPTHS 2015 (Spinefarm)
- Standouts: 'From the Very Depths', 'The Death of Rock 'n' Roll', 'Smoke', 'Long Haired Punks', 'Stigmata Satanas' 'Evil Law', 'Grinding Teeth'
I could make the usual complaint about 2015's From the Very Depths being possibly too long. 14 songs (although 2 of them are short intro tracks) and over 51 minutes long. It seems to be how Cronos writes and records albums since they reformed in 1995, so it comes as no shock at this point. I think an album can be too long even if the bulk of it's material is good. It's all about flow, but whatever.
The good news is that this album is another good 'un, even if it is too long. In fact, I think it surpasses Fallen Angels by a noticeable margin, and as a result I can deal with the album's long length better this time. After brief introductory 'Eruptus', the record throws 2 pulverising thrashers our way with 'From the Very Depths' and 'The Death of Rock 'n' Roll'. Both are great, with the latter bringing back that punk-thrash hybrid attitude that Cronos loves doing... and does it so well. Track 3, 'Smoke', is a very solid mid-tempo bruiser with some crushing detuned riffage from guitarist Rage. I'd like to rag on 'Temptation' and call it one of the album's missteps, but it's only really the chorus that's a bit boring/generic. Musically this song is prime Venom. Meanwhile 'Long Haired Punks' is another turbo-charged number that I kind of assumed was some kind of Motorhead tribute going by the title. Maybe it's about Venom? But then Rage is bald so maybe not! Erm, great tune either way!
'Stigmata Satanas' is as Venom as it's title suggests, and while 'Crucified' is a bit on the simplistic side riff-wise, thankfully it's attitude rescues it from mediocrity, and the solo is nice too. 'Evil Law' is a doom-fest and Cronos sounds like Tom G Warrior on it with his Celtic Frost-style vocals. The album offers up another 'banger - 'Grinding Teeth', another ripping cut. 'Mephistopheles' (that wasn't fun to type!) has it's own intro, the melodic 'Ouverture', which is cool. The song itself is kinda mid in comparison to the rest of the album, but it's slightly slower pace keeps the flow of the record interesting at least. Ending on 'Wings of Valkyrie' and the almost anthemic 'Rise', From the Very Depths goes out with a bang.
I think overall From the Very Depths may be the best of Cronos' latter-period Venom albums. I really like this one! The songs are expectedly heavy from start to finish, and I think they nailed it with the production this time around. The band had really tried to make the last bunch of records as raw and nasty as they could be, without stepping into demo-like territory. This album is actually slightly cleaner sonically, yet still has an aura of ragged roughness about it, and as a result sounds great for it. I don't really have any major complaints to speak of, but it's difficult to elevate it far above the 8/10 realm. Any album within this field is very respectable, but I do think there's other bands from the same sort of era that are doing things just a little bit better than Venom. Saxon for example, are another NWOBHM staple, and I just think the bulk of their latter-period albums are stronger than anything Venom have done in the past 20 or so years. They're just a better band in my books, but even so, Venom can still push out a modern day 'banger when they really want to. Case in point, this album.
Comparing From the Very Depths to the rest of the discography, I'll stick it just below Resurrection, but above any of the past few records. It's definitely more consistent than Resurrection, but holy shit the riffs and production on that album kick soo much ass that I simply cannot put it below this one either!! Still, what you have here is an incredibly strong slab of Venom-branded old-school black metal that sits somewhere near the top of the rest of the band's output.
Adam's rating: 8.1/10
VENOM INC. - AVE 2017 (Nuclear Blast)
- Standouts: 'Ave Satanas', 'Metal We Bleed', 'Dein Fleisch', 'Time to Die', 'The Evil Dead', 'War', 'Black n' Roll'
So in 2015 the Prime Evil/Temples of Ice/The Waste Lands lineup of Mantas, Abaddon and Demolition Man reunited as Venom Inc., meaning we now have 2 versions of Venom. Sounds good to me! In fact, I saw Venom Inc. with Suffocation in Birmingham back in 2018, and also 2018 and 2022 at Bloodstock festival, the latter when they played the Black Metal album in full. I thoroughly enjoyed them both times. And I'm in full support of both bands; I think Mantas is just as important to Venom's importance as Cronos, and the fact they made one of their best albums without Cronos (Prime Evil) kind of reinforces this. Don't get me wrong, I still totally dig what Cronos has been doing with Venom for years, but I gotta admit I don't like the way he's slagged off Venom Inc. and think Demolition Man and Mantas have far better attitudes in comparison.
In 2017 Venom Inc. dropped their first album, Avé, and according to my old review, I picked this up almost immediately after I saw them in 2018. I must admit, I hadn't listened to it for quite some time, but I gave it an 8/10 in my original review and claimed it was stronger than any of late-career Venom albums without Mantas. Let's see how it stacks up some 7 years later, shall we?
Well, the first 3 tracks are great - opener 'Ave Satanas' is a long and slow-building cut with a cheesy spoken-word intro. It has all those cliché horror movie-type cultist vibes, but it really nails what the band are all about and I can't help but love it. Once the song gets going, it's a slow, crushing number. The main riff in 'Forged in Hell' actually reminds me a little of 'Welcome to Hell', and is totally old-school. A nice throwback. 'Metal We Bleed' is a fine slab of speed metal that almost sounds like musical equivalent of the smoothie you'd get if you threw Venom and Judas Priest in a blender. Great stuff. I noticed very quickly that Dolan's vocals have changed over time; I always thought he sounded a lot like Cronos on Prime Evil, but here he definitely has his more of his own style. There's definite Cronos influence (which is necessary for Venom Inc. to sound like, well, Venom) in his voice, but he still manages to pull of his own style whilst still retaining that essential Venom vocal tone.
'Dein Fleisch' is a moody number with some twisted vocals from Dolan. It's not particularly as hard-hitting as many of the tracks here, but is focused much more on atmosphere than anything else, and it works. 'Blood Stained' has a lot of depth musically, while 'Time to Die' is an appropriately untamed, vicious barnburner of a song. I think 'The Evil Dead' has that classic Venom speed metal bite, and 'Preacher Man' has a slightly more modern edge, in that there's some definite groove in the riffs. It helps to give the album more musical variety, and keep me interested. Meanwhile, 'War' will crush your skull and features some excellent shredding guitar solos, and finale 'Black n' Roll' has that punkish aura to go with the blackened thrash of the music.
The production is more polished overall next to Venom albums such as Metal Black, Hell etc., but thankfully isn't so shiny that the raw, evil spirit of Venom is lost. I can't really fault it. However, I can fault 'I Kneel to No God', which is a little tired and slow, and far too long at over 6 minutes. Not terrible or anything, just filler. The total length of this album is just over an hour; 11 songs is fine, but I guess some of them may drag on longer than they need to? Thankfully the songwriting here is tight, and the long length of this album isn't as noticeable to me as some of Cronos' works from past 20 years or so. The only other real gripe I have is that although this album is almost consistently great from start to finish, there aren't any truly awesome songs to speak of. I guess it's difficult for a 1-trick pony kind of band like Venom Inc. (or Venom) to be fresh and original. But hey, I still really enjoyed Avé, and I can't recommend it enough - even if there are still recent-ish albums from similar legacy metal bands that are even stronger (again, I'm looking at you Saxon!).
In all honesty, if we're counting both Venom and Venom Inc. as 1 big family, I think Avé is probably the best album since Resurrection. Given that I've added more Venom albums to my collection since I wrote my original Avé review in 2018, and have been re-reviewing all my old ones, I've enjoyed this one more than I have a sizeable chunk of the others. It's actually a little stronger than the 8/10 I originally gave it. I get that Venom Inc. are a separate entity to Venom, but musically both bands are so similar I kind of just group them together. Sorry Cronos!
Aye, this one's a winner. In some ways, this album is more Venom than anything the other Venom have put out in years!
Adam's rating: 8.3/10
The box set also comes with a nice booklet with Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon all sharing their stories about this era of the band. This is the kind of thing I like to see with these kind of box sets. The packing is nice too, a glossy box with each disc in cardboard sleeves replicating vinyls, and the whole thing sits nicely amongst the rest of my regular CDs. Overall In Nomine Satanas is an excellent retrospective of the band's 'classic' era, and is 100% worth getting for those looking to get into this band. Even at the full £40 retail price, it's still worth getting. But if you can get it for half that price (which is easy right now), it's a no-brainer. I'd like to see a box set featuring the 3 Demolition Man albums in future, but with Cronos running the show that'd never happen. Venom Inc. would have to release it somehow.
I think Venom are one of those bands that are regularly acknowledged as pioneers within the metal genre, but it's only really their first 3 records that get any recognition from the mainstream press. Delve into their catalogue however, and you'll find a strong number of great albums. Prime Evil, Resurrection, From the Very Depths... these are all well worth having in your own collection. You've also got 2 crackers from Venom Inc., the alternate Venom band that in my opinion are doing things even better than OG Venom right now! The only album I'm on the fence with is Calm Before the Storm. An underrated discography.
