Venom (band)

Venom
Venom live at hellfest.jpg
Background information
Origin Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Genre(s) Black metal, speed metal, (see below)
Years active 1979 – present
Label(s) Neat, Filmtrax, Under One Flag, SPV, Sanctuary/Castle, Universal
Website www.venomslegions.com
Members
Cronos
Antton
Rage
Former members
See: Former members section

Venom are an English extreme metal band,[1] formed in late 1979 in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Considered a seminal influence for thrash and coming to prominence towards the end of the 'New Wave of British Heavy Metal', Venom have found little mainstream success or critical acclaim, but are widely regarded as highly influential, particularly for their first two albums, Welcome to Hell (1981) and Black Metal (1982).

The title of Venom's second album would become influential and definitive enough to describe an entire subgenre called black metal, a category under which the band is most commonly referred. The nature of Venom's high-pitch guitars, harsh vocals, use of pseudonyms, and unrelenting emphasis on Satanic lyrics and imagery is considered the template for the subgenre's later successes, and arguably for the broader extreme metal movement in general.[2]

Contents

Band history

Early years

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 Lant from the bands DwarfStar and Album Graecum replaced Rutherford on guitar.

Prime influences of the band are Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motörhead[3] and Kiss.[4] Other bands cited by Venom as an inspiration are The Who, Deep Purple, Sex Pistols, Van Halen, The Tubes and Rolling Stones.[4]

A few days before a show at a local church hall, Venom's bassist Alan Winston left the band. To fill in, Conrad Lant borrowed a bass guitar from Steve Thompson (later to become Venom's first producer) at the studio he worked at (Impulse Studios/Neat Studios). 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 became 'Mr Cronos', Bray became 'Tony Abaddon', and Dunn became 'Jeff Mantas'.

In April 1980, the band recorded a three song demo, featuring "Angel Dust", "Raise the Dead", and "Red Light Fever". Soon afterward, six more demo tracks were recorded for just £50, with Cronos taking vocal duties on the song "Live Like an Angel". Archer soon left the band, and Venom's line-up was finally a trio.

Welcome to Hell

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. Cronos was quoted as saying that this celebration of evil subjects was inspired by musicians like Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath, who would 'sing about evil things and dark figures, then spoil it all by going "Oh No, No Please God help me!"'[5]

Black Metal

Their second album, Black Metal (1982) 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.[6] Many defining elements of these genres are first found in the lyrics and song titles created by Cronos and his unique singing style as well as the guitar work and solos performed by Mantas.

Despite its shortcomings, the album is nonetheless hugely influential.

At War with Satan

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. B-side of the LP was focused on the rapid-fire, three-minute “scorchers” Venom did best.

Later work

In 1985, Venom released their next album, Possessed, not being as successful as previous albums. Guitarist Mantas then left the band to pursue a solo career.

Two guitarists, Mike Hickey and Jim Clare were hired to replace Mantas. Next album, Calm Before the Storm (1987) moved away from Satanic themes in favor of Tolkienesque “Sword and Sorcery” material. [7]. This album appeared to be less successful than Possessed, so Cronos decided to leave Venom, taking the two guitarists along with him.

Abaddon 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 Under One Flag label, using Deadline demo tracks which were recorded with previous line-up but never released. In 1988, Abaddon offered a vocals/bass role to Tony Dolan from Atomkraft. Abaddon and Dolan wrote some new songs and were able to convince Mantas to return to Venom, and he agreed to return along with guitarist Al Barnes. Together they recorded Prime Evil (1989), Tear Your Soul Apart (1990) and Temples of Ice (1991). Al Barnes 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 publish any more Venom albums, so Dolan and Mantas quit, effectively disbanding Venom. Abaddon continued to release compilation and live albums up to 1996.

In 1996, Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon reunited in "classic" line-up. They recorded and self-released Venom '96 EP with 4 re-recorded and one new song to get a deal with SPV. New album, Cast in Stone was released in 1997.

In late 2005, Venom released a career defining 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.

In March 2006, Venom released Metal Black, featuring original frontman Cronos along with his brother Antton on drums, and guitarist Mike Hickey aka Mykvs. The album is a return to Venom's sound in Black Metal, as signified by the name "Metal Black".

As of early 2007, guitarist Mykvs has left the band due to an inability to completely focus on Venom during tours. A new guitarist by the name of Rage has been named as his replacement.

Venom announced the title and release date of their new album on February 14, 2008. The album is entitled "HELL" and was released in May 2008.

Genre

As Venom were one of the first incarnations of extreme metal, influencing many thrash metal, black metal, death metal and other extreme metal bands,[8] their exact genre has been a topic of debate. Venom has been labeled various genres by members of the press. Most prominent genres are black metal,[9] thrash metal,[10] and speed metal.[11]

Influence

Welcome To Hell influenced "literally thousands" of bands.[12] Venom's music helped shape the development of many thrash metal bands, specifically the Big Four of Thrash: Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth (Metallica opened for Venom on an early 1980s tour[13] and Slayer played with them on the Combat Tour in 1985). Venom would also be of extreme importance to the black metal and even the early death metal scene, with numerous bands copying styles, themes and imagery from the band.

Venom often used Satanic and other 'evil' themes in their lyrics, but critic Bradley Torreano declared that the band had "their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks", with a sense of humor and irony that was sometimes lost on their fans and other musicians. Torreano adds that Venom "[caught] the attention of both metalheads and punks, the band was emulated by the former and turned into camp icons by the latter."[14]

When asked about the criminal actions or violent behaviour of some later black metal bands (notably, there were a string of arsons and a few murders in the Norwegian black metal community in the 1990s), Venom's members reportedly expressed disapproval, stating the point of Venom is to make controversial music, and "How can you make albums and tour if you are in jail?".

Criticism

While many fans and musicians see Venom as an important band, their music has nonetheless been the subject of debate and criticism. Critic Ed Rivadavia writes that though Welcome To Hell influenced "literally thousands" of bands, Venom was "critically reviled" and composed of "incompetent musicians."[15] However, critic James Christopher Monger declares that the members of Venom 'grew as musicians' as their careers progressed.[16] Ethnographer Keith Kahn-Harris argues that Venom's limited technical skills, particularly early in their career, were a profound, though inadvertent factor in Venom's influence: being unable to mimic more technically proficient metal of their predecessors or peers, Venom instead opted to focus on sheer speed, creating a music that was inspired by earlier metal, yet simultaneously blazed new trails.

Venom's members were apparently well aware that their musical skills were questioned, especially by other bands. During a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1984, Guitarist Mantas was doing a between-song rant when he remarked rather loudly: "A lot of bands are out there tonight, waiting for Venom to make a mistake. Well, we are the fucking mistake!" [17]

In his Black Flag tour diary, singer Henry Rollins wrote about a 1986 performance when Black Flag opened for Venom. He opines that Venom was hilarious, with mediocre playing and a stage performance focused on appearances rather than music; Rollins asserted that the musicians used portable fans to keep their hair flowing while on stage. Rollins wrote, "It was like seeing Spinal Tap ... I expected them to go into 'Sex Farm' at any second."[18] Rollins writes that he and some tourmates drew magic marker pentagrams on their hands to flash at Venom and offer “Hail Satan” salutes. For their final number, Venom asked the audience to chant what Rollins thought was “Black Funky Metal”, which briefly made Rollins suspect that he had overlooked Venom's sense of humor, until he realized Venom was actually saying “Black Fucking Metal.” Venom reportedly laughed off Rollins’ comments saying "Henry didn't have the balls to speak to us back then, he hid backstage, but now he mouths off behind our backs. His band were useless and that's why he writes books now. He even got the date of the show wrong. Go write some more books and we'll keep making music."

On the DVD extra material of the documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, bassist/singer Lemmy of Motörhead jokingly opines that Venom "fake it" on their instruments, implying that they are not skilled musicians, though later amending the statement somewhat by stating that Venom was "all right". When interviewer Sam Dunn tells Lemmy that he himself was "blown away" by Venom back when he was twelve, Lemmy responds, "Anything will blow you away when you're twelve. A day at the beach will blow you away when you are twelve." Cronos has always spoken highly of other musicians such as Lemmy, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford and a host of other British bands; in one interview he said, "'head have always had a great response in Newcastle, Geordies really relate to them, Lemmy is a smart bloke and a wicked axeman, true rock n' rollers".

Members

Former members

Guitar

Drums

Vocals

Discography

Studio albums and EPs

Live albums

Compilation albums

References

  1. ↑ Extreme metal according to Kahn-Harris, Keith, Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge, Oxford: Berg, 2007, ISBN 1845203992
  2. ↑ Kahn-Harris, Keith, Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge, Oxford: Berg, 2007, ISBN 1845203992
  3. ↑ Mantas interview (www.fortunecity.com)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cronos and Abbadon Interview (www.fortunecity.com)
  5. ↑ MMV, reviewed by James Christopher Monger for Allmusic.com
  6. ↑ Khan-Harris, 2007
  7. ↑ Calm Before the Storm, reviewed by Steve Huey for Allmusic.com
  8. ↑ Allmusic.com Welcome to Hell review
  9. ↑ Black metal according to (1) Rockdetector.com Venom page, (2) Allmusic.com Venom page, (3) Metal-Observer.com Black Metal review, (4) Metal-Archives.com Venom page
  10. ↑ Thrash metal according to (1) Kahn-Harris, Keith, Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge, Oxford: Berg, 2007, ISBN 184520399, (2) Popmatters.com Yyrkoon - Unhealthy Opera review
  11. ↑ Speed metal according to Metal-Archives.com Venom page
  12. ↑ [1] Welcome To Hell, Allmusic.com review by Ed Rivadavia
  13. ↑ MMV, reviewed by James Christopher Monger for Allmusic.com
  14. ↑ In League With Satan reviewed by Bradley Torreano for Allmusic.com
  15. ↑ [2] Welcome To Hell, Allmusic.com review by Ed Rivadavia
  16. ↑ Darkest Hour, reviewed by James Christopher Monger for Allmusic.com
  17. ↑ Taken from audio track of: "The 7th date of Hell: Live at the Hammersmith Odeon" copyright 1984 Neat Records and Music (D.W.E. Ltd.)
  18. ↑ Rollins, Henry Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag, 2.13.61 Publications, 1994
Venom
Conrad "Cronos" Lant · Rage · Antony "Antton" Lant
Jeff "Mantas" Dunn · Anthony "Abaddon" Bray · James Clare · Steve "War Maniac" White · Alastair "Big Al" Barnes · Clive "Jesus Christ" Archer · Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan · Mike "Mykvs" Hickey
Studio albums
Welcome to Hell (1981) · Black Metal (1982) · At War with Satan (1983) · Possessed (1985) · Calm Before the Storm (1987) · Prime Evil (1989) · Temples of Ice (1991) · The Waste Lands (1992) · Cast in Stone (1997) · Resurrection (2000) · Metal Black (2006) · Hell (2008)
EPs
Canadian Assault (1984) · American Assault (1985) · French Assault (1985) · Hell at Hammersmith (1985) · Japanese Assault (1985) · Nightmare (1985) · Scandinavian Assault (1986) · German Assault (1987) · Tear Your Soul Apart (1990) · Venom '96 (1996)
Compilations & live
Official Bootleg (1986) · Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1986) · The Singles 1980-1986 (1986) · The Book of Armageddon (1992) · Skeletons In The Closet (1993) · Kissing the Beast (1993) · The Second Coming (1997) · Bitten (2002)

External links