Venom (band)

From Freepedia

Venom is a Black Metal band, formed in 1979, in England. Venom are pioneers of the entire Black Metal genre, and a big influence to early Death and Thrash metal bands at the time. Mayhem, Slayer,Testament and Morbid Angel cite Venom as a major influence. Though musically they are more closely related to Thrash, it was their lyrical topics and harsher vocals which seperated them from other bands at the time (usually dealing with Satan and Hell and other "Black" topics). Their first two records, Welcome To Hell 1981 and Black Metal 1982 set the bar for Black Metal to follow. The original members were: Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon.

Dissatisfied with the metal scene at the time, where the toughest bands were Motörhead and Judas Priest, Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon proposed pushing the genre further. Originally, the band was called Oberon and consisted of 5 members. Mantas worked on the road, and "Venom" was his nickname.

Cronos initially joined the group as a guitarist. After Mantas asked him to sing "Live Like An Angel, Die Like A Devil" the group appreciated the result.

Their first album, Welcome To Hell (1981), was a remarkable tour de force at the time, when satan was rarely mentioned. It is also credited as influencing a lot of Thrash Metal bands, specifically Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. It pushed the boundaries of Thrash Metal to the extremes from the get go, and the beginnings of a new genre were starting to emerge.

Their second album, Black Metal (1982) is often cited as important in the development of black metal and death metal. Many elements of these genres are found in the lyrics and even the song titles.

While many fans and musicians see Venom as an important band, others disagree. In his Black Flag tour diary, singer Henry Rollins wrote about a 1986 performance when Black Flag opened for Venom. He opines that Venom were "Weak, weak, weak" and that "the guitar player was so bad it was painful" and "They were hilarious. It was like seeing Spinal Tap ... I expected them to go into "Sex Farm Woman" at any second."

As Godfathers of Black Metal, when asked about the actions of the later Black Metal bands and their church burnings as well as the often times out of hand stage shows; Venom have spoken out against those acts. Stating that these artists are taking the music they make much too seriously. The point was to make controversial music and not to hurt anybody, claiming that what they do is wrong...However this differs from interview to interview.

Contents

Discography

  • Welcome To Hell (1981)
  • Black Metal (1982)
  • At War With Satan (1983)
  • Possessed (1985)
  • American Assault EP (1985)
  • Canadian Assault EP (1985)
  • French Assault EP (1986)
  • The Singles 1980-1986 (1986)
  • Calm Before the Storm (1987)
  • Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1987)
  • Prime Evil (1989)
  • Tear Your Soul Apart EP (1990)
  • Acid Queen (1991)
  • Temples of Ice (1991)
  • The Book Of Armageddon (Best Of) (1992)
  • The Waste Lands (1992)
  • Kissing the Beast (1993)
  • Skeletons in the Closet (1993)
  • Old, New, Borrowed and Blue (1994)
  • Venom ' 96 (1996)
  • Cast in Stone (1997)
  • Resurrection (2000)

Sources

  • Henry Rollins, Get In The Van, 2.13.61, 1994

See also

External links

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