Venom is a metal band formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK in 1979.
Coming
to prominence towards the end of the 'New Wave of British Heavy Metal',
Venom's first two albums – Welcome to Hell (1981) and Black Metal
(1982) – are considered a major influence on thrash metal and extreme
metal in general. Venom's second album proved influential enough that
its title was used as the name of an extreme metal subgenre: black
metal.
Venom's original personnel came from three different bands:
Guillotine, Oberon and DwarfStar. The original Guillotine featured
Jeffrey Dunn and Dave Rutherford on guitars, Dean Hewitt on bass
guitar, Dave Blackman on vocals and Chris Mercaters on drums. Blackman
and Mercater were replaced by drummer Anthony Bray and vocalist Clive
Archer of Oberon and soon after, Dean Hewitt was replaced by Alan
Winston on bass. Around the summer of 1979, Conrad "Cronos" Lant from the bands DwarfStar and Album Graecum replaced Rutherford. Around this time, the band adopted the Venom moniker.
Prime influences of the formative band were Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motörhead and Kiss. Other bands cited by Venom as an inspiration are Queen, The Who, Deep Purple, Sex Pistols, Van Halen, The Tubes and The Rolling Stones.
A
few days before a show at a local church hall, Winston left the band.
To fill in, Lant borrowed a bass guitar from Steve Thompson (later to
become Venom's first producer). Playing the show with the borrowed bass
plugged into his Marshall guitar amp and effects pedals, he created an
unnerving racket and the 'Bulldozer Bass' was born.
Venom's lyrics
often featured Satanic references, and the band members took on new
stage names. Archer became 'Jesus Christ', Lant 'Mr. Cronos', Bray 'Tony Abaddon', and Dunn 'Jeff Mantas'.
In
April 1980, the band recorded a three song disc, featuring "Angel
Dust", "Raise the Dead", and "Red Light Fever". Soon afterward, six more
tracks were recorded for just £50, with Lant taking vocal duties on the
song "Live Like an Angel". Archer soon left the band, and Venom's
line-up became a trio.
Venom's recording debut was the 1981 single
"In League with Satan"/"Live Like an Angel" which was released by Neat
Records. Later that year they released their full-length debut, "Welcome
to Hell".
Though crudely recorded with sometimes dubious
musicianship, "Welcome to Hell" was still a remarkable tour de force for
the era. Venom's music was faster and harsher than most heavy metal
contemporaries and while Satanism and other dark topics had been
featured in metal before, the subject had rarely been more prominent.
Lant was quoted as saying that this celebration of evil subjects was
inspired by the perceived need to out-do musicians like Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath, who would 'sing about evil things and dark figures, and then spoil it all by going "Oh No, No Please God help me!"'
Their
second album, 1982's "Black Metal" is cited as perhaps the most
important influence in the development of black metal, thrash metal,
death metal, and other related styles that are often grouped under the
extreme metal umbrella. Many defining elements of these genres are first
found in the lyrics and song titles created by Lant and his unique
singing style as well as the guitar work and solos performed by Dunn.
Though they would later be cited as important, neither of Venom’s first
two albums sold well upon their original release. And while many of
their British metal peers had found measures of popular success or
critical acclaim (or, like Def Leppard, were moving away from metal towards hard rock), Venom were still regarded by critics as "a trio of buffoons".
In
an attempt to prove their status as serious musicians, Venom recorded
"At War with Satan" in 1983. The epic 20-minute title track, with
substantial progressive rock influences, took up the first side of the
LP. The B-side was focused on the rapid-fire, three-minute "scorchers"
Venom were known for. In 1985, Venom released their fourth album,
"Possessed', which was not as successful as previous albums. Dunn then
left the band to pursue a solo career.
Two guitarists, Mike Hickey
and Jim Clare, were hired to replace Dunn. Their fifth album, 1987's
Calm Before the Storm, moved away from Satanic themes in favor of
Tolkien-esque “Sword and Sorcery” material. This was even less
successful than "Possessed", and Lant, Clare and Hickey all left Venom
after subsequent touring to form Lant's eponymous solo band Cronos.
Bray
was left as the only group member, but he was able to convince Music
for Nations for a deal to release a new Venom album on the Under One
Flag label, using Deadline demo tracks which were recorded with previous
line-ups but never released. In 1988, Bray offered a vocals/bass role
to Tony Dolan from Atomkraft.
Bray and Dolan wrote new material prior to Dunn's rejoining the band
along with rhythm guitarist Al Barnes. Together they recorded Prime Evil
(1989), Tear Your Soul Apart (1990) and Temples of Ice (1991). Barnes
then left the band, and Steve White from Atomkraft
was hired as replacement. They released "The Waste Lands" in 1992, also
without success. Music for Nations refused to release any more Venom
albums, so Dolan and Dunn quit, effectively disbanding Venom. Bray
continued to release compilation and live albums up to 1996.
In
1995, Lant, Dunn and Bray reunited the "classic" line-up, beginning by
headlining the Waldrock Festival on 24 June 1995. They recorded and
self-released the "Venom '96" EP with four re-recorded and one new song,
resulting in a record deal with the SPV label. An album, "Cast in
Stone", was next released in 1997, split between new material and
re-recordings of popular early-'80s songs.
Bray left Venom in 1999
and was replaced by Lant's brother Anthony "Antton" Lant. This lineup
released "Resurrection" in 2000 on SPV. However, in 2002 Dunn again left
the group and was replaced by a returning Hickey. In late 2005, Venom
released a career-spanning 4-disc box set "MMV", which includes an
exclusive mini-poster of the band's seven-date tour of Europe with
Metallica and a 60 page picture book, with interviews and pictures. The
set includes all their best-known songs, along with rarities like live
tracks, demos and outtakes. This lineup of the band released the "Metal
Black" album.
Hickey left the group 2007, with a guitarist calling
himself "Rage" serving as his replacement. This lineup released the
record "Hell" in 2008. Anthony Lant has since left the group and has
been replaced by drummer Danny "Dante" Needham.
Currently, the
band is in the studio recording their next album which is due for
release at the end of 2010 and also negotiating some live shows
afterwards. Cronos
commented saying, "There's a fresh energy with the new line-up and the
sessions are going great, Dante is a really big hitter which is
fantastic, his playing went down a storm with the South American Legions
during our Latin American tour in December 2009. Rage has been tearing
up the decibels and cranking his amp valves white hot, so the new album
is sounding killer and should be ready to be unleashed end 2010"
-Tracklist:
Disc 1
Side A:
1. In League with Satan 03:30
2. Live like an Angel, Die like a Devil 03:48
3. Bloodlust 02:59
4. In Nomine Satanas 03:24
5. Die Hard (12" version) 03:03
Side B:
6. Acid Queen 02:28
7. Bursting Out 02:57
8. Warhead (12" version) 05:56
9. Lady Lust 02:45
10. Seven Gates of Hell 05:26
Disc 2
Side A:
1. Manitou (12" version) 04:39
2. Dead of the Night 04:05
3. Woman 02:53
4. Nightmare (12" version) 03:51
Side B:
5. Satanachist 02:43
6. F.O.A.D. 03:02
7. Witching Hour 04:16
8. Teacher's Pet / Poison / Teacher's Pet 07:59
-Line up:
• Abaddon: Drums
• Mantas: Guitar
• Cronos: Vocals, Bass.
- Label: Earmark
Includes all Venom EPs and singles that were released through Neat Records in the eighties, excluding 'assault EPs'.
Includes also an essay written by John Ticker which has information
about band's early history and releases that are presented on this
compilation.
Ltd. Edition 180 Gram Vinyl.
