Black Metal (album)

Black metal
Studio album from Venom
Publication (s)	November 1982
Label (s)	Neat Records
Format (s)	LP, audio cassette, picture disc
Genre (s)	Thrash metal , black metal
Title (number)	11 (re-release 20)
running time	47 min 49 s
occupation	Vocals & Bass: Conrad Lant (aka Cronos) Electric guitar: Jeffrey Dunn (aka Mantas) Drums: Anthony Bray (aka Abaddon)
production	Keith Nichol and Venom
Studio (s)	Impulse Studios
chronology Welcome to Hell (1981) Black metal At War with Satan (1983)

Black Metal is the second album by the English heavy metal band Venom . It was released in November 1982 and is considered an important influence on the thrash , death and black metal scenes that emerged in the early 1980s and 1990s. The latter was named after the album, musically it is more likely to be associated with Thrash Metal .
The album appears in the anthology 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .

Emergence

The album was recorded at Impulse Studios in three days, the time the band was allowed by Neat Records . In addition to Keith Nichol, all members of the band were involved in the production. Cronos "was meanwhile experienced enough in studio work to know exactly what kind of sound we needed, and it just couldn't be found in the archive of popular BBC effects"; for the beginning of the album a “steel beam was worked with a chainsaw and the part was totally scrapped”, for Buried Alive “microphones were placed in cardboard boxes and sand shoveled on them” to reproduce the feeling of being buried alive. Since other bands often lost their own sound in the studio, Cronos told his fellow musicians to tune their instruments as they would at concerts and use their live equipment.

Style and texts

The songs on Black Metal were described as "raw, catchy speed- rhythm outbreaks and clubbing riffs ", plus a "no-budget production like a basement concert". The texts deal with nightmare scenarios ( Buried Alive , Raise the Dead ), horror mythology ( Countess Bathory ) or sex fantasies ( Teacher's Pet ).

reception

In Robert Dimery's book of 1001 albums , Black Metal was described as the “perfection of anger parody” left behind by “distraught critics and parents”. Few could have guessed at the time that this would create a “real dark subculture”. Eduardo Rivadavia from allmusic described the theme song Black Metal , Raise the Dead and Acid Queen as “proto-thrashing classics” , Leave Me in Hell as “surprisingly complex”, Teacher's Pet as “unusually silly” and Bloodlust and Countess Bathory as “absolute classics ". While, apart from possibly Countess Bathory , none of the pieces had the influence of pieces from the debut album Welcome to Hell , such as Witching Hour and Angel Dust , the later Black Metal manifested itself on this pioneer as a complete work.

layout

The album cover was created by Conrad "Cronos" Lant , the band's singer and bassist. It also bears a seemingly anti-piracy symbol that reads: “ Home taping is killing music ... So are Venom.” ( “ Home taping kills the music ... Just like Venom.”)

Track list

page A

1. Black Metal 3:40
2. To Hell and Back 3:00
3. Buried Alive 4:16
4. Raise the Dead 2:45
5. Teacher's Pet 4:41

Side B

6. Leave Me in Hell 3:33
7. Sacrifice 4:27
8. Heaven's on Fire 3:40
9. Countess Bathory 3:44
10. Don't Burn the Witch 3:20
11. At War with Satan (preview) 2:14

Bonus songs on the 2002 re-release

12. Bursting Out 2:58
13. Black Metal 3:08
14. Nightmare 3:27
15. Too Loud for the Crowd 2:09
16. Bloodlust 2:44
17. Die Hard 3:06
18. Acid Queen 2:31
19. Bursting Out 2:59
20. Hounds of Hell 3:20

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Eduardo Rivadavia: Black Metal - Venom .
2. ↑ Sharpe-Young, Garry . Metal: The Definitive Guide . p 208
3. ^ Dunn, Sam (2005). Metal - A Headbanger's Journey .
4. ↑ Kahn-Harris, Keith. Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge. Oxford: Berg (2007). ISBN 1845203992
5. ^ Dome, Michael (2007). Murder Music - A History Of Black Metal ( Memento from July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) . Rockworld TV.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Dimery, Robert: 1001 albums. Music To Hear Before Life Is Over 4. updated. New edition, Zurich 2009, p. 498.
7. ↑ Venom Biography .
8. ↑ ^{a b} Thomas Kupfer: Venom . Jesus had to go . In: Rock Hard , No. 304, September 2012, p. 40.