*evil laugh* Ahh yess, the sounds of early metal echo from the dark hellish pit yet again this day (or night). Today we explore into the early era of extreme metal.
So yeah, Venom. Formed in 1978, this band is known as being the one that gave birth to subgenres such as black metal (hence the album name), thrash metal, New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), and extreme metal in general. These guys weren't afraid of some controversy, as you can tell from Baphomet smiling at you above with a certain plan for you in his mind. Really the guys in this band are atheists, but they had their fun in making their sound as evil and hell-ridden as possible for their time. "Black Metal" was a pretty damn good example of that.
This album is their second one from 1982. Before any albums were even made, the band had some lineup changes, but by this point they had Cronos (singer), Mantas (guitar), and Abaddon (drums). Due to the content of the album, its always been debated if these guys really were the inventors of black metal music or if it was Bathory or some other band who did it. That will be the eternal question for humanity.
The track list on this album is:
1. Black Metal
2. To Hell And Back
3. Buried Alive
4. Raise The Dead
5. Teacher's Pet
6. Leave Me In Hell
7. Sacrifice
8. Heaven's On Fire
9. Countess Bathory
10. Don't Burn The Witch
11. At War With Satan (preview)
Clearly we got a lot to listen to here. "Black Metal" starts off with a weird tone. Think about the sound of a water pipe busting in your basement. Yeah, that. Then its like right out of the blue the music fades in and singing already begins. Infused with heavy punk influences, it rages on. A big celebration of wild music and allowing your wild soul to let loose. "Freaking so wild, nobody's mild. Giving it all you got. Wild is so right, metal tonight, faster than over the top."
"To Hell And Back" is kind of self explanatory. Cronos tells you a lyrical tale of his life experiences of, well, going through hell and back. Ah yeah, he even danced with zombies along the way. Trust me folks a lot of us aren't as lucky to get outta hell.
"Buried Alive" is one of my favorites. You are given the experience of what its like being resurrected from death. Only problem is, your a zombie. It starts off with a voice sorrowfully saying "we are brought forth unto this world with nothing. And with nothing we depart. So I commend this body to the ground with loving remembrance. Earth to earth. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.." Cronos begins to whisper how he is alive but dead. Awake but asleep. He continues till the music kicks up and his morbitity increases. Also during the solo, every time i hear it, the bass gives me chills. I fucking LOVE it. I know some people think that this song would cause depression and what not. For me, it just reminds me of how special life really is. We cannot come back after death, so better off living like there's no tomorrow! Whether or not you believe in an afterlife, its better focusing on life while you still have it. As with this song, on CD or vinyl, it fades on into the next song called "Raise The Dead". This song is a continuation of the last one, where it tells of the guy finally coming out of his grave and getting the evil powers to raise the dead.
"Teacher's Pet" goes in a funny yet raunchy direction. Basically its of sexual shit going on between student and teacher. Dayuumm. Cronos and teacher sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. XD Yeah that's actually pretty horrible tbh.
"Leave Me In Hell" tells the tale of being born as the spawn of evil. Grim reaper, rams, pentacles and crosses included. There's not much to say about it simply because it just carries on what this entire album wants to speak of, basically. Like how "Sacrifice" is, as it tells of an evil ritual being carried on. The living dead join in as well with satan and the dark witches to enjoy one hell of a night. I feel like "Heaven's On Fire" is also a continuation to this, even if it doesn't fade into the other song.
"Countess Bathory" is another favorite of mine. It tells a true story of a count's wife. Her name was Elizabeth Bathory, and living in the 1700s there were strange ways women tried to retain youth. Countess Bathory supposedly used blood for this. I'm not going to get into the full story because I don't want GAG deleting this for the graphic side, but the Countess has been known as one of the worst female serial killers. This song speaks about it all man.
"Don't Burn The Witch" mixes the facts of stereotypical fantasy witches with a true evil side. The fantasy side comes with the part about them using "eye of lizard/wing of bat/testicle of man" etc. Even though this song doesn't specify, I feel like this song refers to the Salem witch trials some way.
Now with "At War With Satan", I'm not sure if this was on every copy of this album. Either way, the only way I can explain the preview is that it will give you the creeps if you wake up during the night with headphones on and hearing that shit lol trust me.
So yes, this album and band I only found out a few months ago. I actually wrote this take in honor of my boyfriend who recently passed away (R.I.P sweet heart). I know you think its weird doing honor using music that's pretty freakin evil and morbid, but the only reason I did this particular album and band in that honor is because he was the one who introduced me to it all, and he absolutely loved the band. He had a thing for blackened thrash metal especially the old stuff, and there was a day he mentioned this band and I was like "uh what?" He couldn't believe I never heard of it. I pulled up "Countess Bathory" on youtube, and I was like "holy shit". I got hooked after that. The only other time before that that I at least saw the album picture was on a show called "Metal Evolution" when I was 13 or 14, and I thought the picture was hella creepy. When other people around me knew I fell in love with the music, some cheered me on while the others were acting like I was the devil's child. Really folks, music like this isn't literally telling you to worship the devil! Its purely art. And damn do I love art. And here's some of the arts...
Thanks for reading! My next take is open for any suggestions. What do you guys want me to write about? Speak up if you got any ideas :) Stay metal folks \m/
Most Helpful Opinions