Venom – Black Metal (1982)

September 16, 2023

The first time I heard this record I was 15 years old, and drunk on black metal classics like Transilvanian Hunger or Burzum’s first few records. Hungry for more I decided to start at the beginning with Venom’s Black Metal album….only to find a bunch of sloppy thrash with terrible lyrics about shagging your teacher or Satan being your dad. Safe to say, this went straight into a pile and never really got played ever again.

But I’m not 15 anymore and of course I’ve revisited Venom many times in the years that have passed. I always thought that I prefered Welcome To Hell to Black Metal but realistically they are both as just as good as each other, if slightly different in production and uh, musicality. Black Metal is (only just) more polished and established than its predecessor, but the same template of cheeky, offensive, Christ-baiting thrash is the order of the day here once again.

It is a really enjoyable metal record, but if you are new here, iust don’t expect it to sound like actual black metal lol