Metal Underground.com

Column

Sunday Old School: Extreme Metal Fathers Venom

The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal produced dozens of new acts, some of which have gone down in history as legends of heavy metal and hard rock music, but of all these bands, none were as extreme, as over the top, as exciting, as Venom. The band was formed in the early '80s in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England and released their first album, "Welcome To Hell," in 1981. They gained an underground, cult following in the United Kingdom as well as in the European and North American metal underground, yet they didn't perform a proper live concert until after the release of their second album in 1982. "Black Metal" would go down in history as one of the most influential metal records of all time, and the band's first show took place at the legendary Hammersmith Odeon.

During interviews, Venom would invent numerous tags to describe themselves in order to set them apart from other heavy metal bands of the time. Almost all of these tags went on to become actual sub-genres such as "black metal," "thrash metal," "death metal" and "doom metal." Venom claim they wanted to stand out from the other bands of the time because they felt metal wasn't being represented as well as it should have been. The final straw for Venom came, surprisingly, after Michael Jackson entered the British heavy metal charts with the song, "Beat It" because it featured a guitar solo from Eddie Van Halen.

Over the years, the band released several more albums and experienced several lineup changes, which some might say led to the somewhat unfair reactions to strong albums that didn't feature certain original members. Although they might seem ridiculous when looked upon, Venom is one of the most influential metal bands ever to enter a recording studio and is without question responsible for the likes of thrash, death and of course, black metal. They helped American bands like Slayer, Exodus and even Metallica find fans in Europe by taking them out on tour and their original sound can be heard on many albums from other thrash metal bands such as Metallica's "Kill 'em All" or Slayer's "Show No Mercy." Venom is still going today, with singer/bass player Conrad "Cronos" Lant remaining as the band's sole original member and they are currently working on a brand new album. For Venom, it wasn't quality or quantity that counted, it was standing out from their peers and creating something new, and no-one can deny they did just that.

Venom - "Bloodlust"

Venom - "Black Metal"

Venom - "Witching Hour"

Venom - "Nightmare"

Venom - "Teacher's Pet"

Ollie Hynes has been a writer for Metal Underground.com for four years and has been a metal fan for ten years, going so far as to travel abroad for metal shows.