Welcome to Hell (album)

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Welcome to Hell
Studio album from Venom

Publication
(s)

1981

Label (s) Neat Records

Format (s)

LP , MC , CD

Genre (s)

Metal

Title (number)

11/22 (rerelease 2002)

running time

39:45 / 78:22 (rerelease 2002)

occupation
  • Guitar : Jeffrey Dunn (aka Mantas)
  • Drums : Anthony Bray (aka Abaddon)

production

Keith Nichol and Venom

Location (s)

Newcastle

chronology
In League with Satan / Live like an Angel ( Single )
(1981) 		Welcome to Hell Bloodlust ( single )
(1982)

Welcome to Hell ( English :. Welcome to hell ) is the 1981 released debut album of British metal band Venom .

Origin and publications

After its founding in the late 1970s, Venom recorded two demos in 1980 , which already included six of the pieces later processed on Welcome to Hell . 1981 followed the single In League with Satan with Live like an Angel as B-side . The 7 "produced for Neat Records was also Venom's first recording as a trio, consisting of Conrad" Cronos "Lant , Jeffrey" Mantas "Dunn and Anthony" Abaddon "Bray.

In the same year in the Impulse Studio , where the single was created, the band recorded eleven tracks within just three days, including reinterpretations of the two songs on the single. Keith Nichol was responsible as producer , apart from the pieces contained on the single, the band members acted as co-producers. The mastering was carried out in the Utopia Studio in London .

The demo quality recording was released for the first time in December 1981 under the title Welcome to Hell on MC and LP without the band's consent , including two limited editions as picture discs and colored vinyl. In addition to Neat Records , Banzai Records , Beat Records and Bernett Records were involved, Trio Records released the LP at the same time in Japan. The first re-release on vinyl appeared in 1982 via Neat Records , and further rereleases followed from 1985, including via Roadrunner Records . This record company released the first CD version of Welcome to Hell in 1990 under the banner Roadracer Records . In 1992 Combat Records was responsible for a new edition, which contained two bonus titles with In Nomine Satanas and Bursting Out . On July 21 of the following year, Metal Mania released a version with ten additional tracks under the title Welcome to Hell + Singles in Japan. In 2002 the new edition with 11 bonus tracks followed, which was first brought onto the market by Castle Records .

Track list

page A

  1. Sons of Satan (Lant) - 3:38
  2. Welcome to Hell (Lant, Dunn) - 3:15
  3. Schizo (Lant, Dunn) - 3:34
  4. Mayhem with Mercy (Lant, Dunn) - 0:58
  5. Poison (Lant, Dunn) - 4:33
  6. Live like an Angel (Die like a Devil) (Dunn) - 3:59


Side B

  2. Witching Hour (Lant, Dunn) - 3:40
  3. One Thousand Days in Sodom (Lant, Dunn) - 4:36
  4. Angel Dust (Lant, Dunn) - 2:43
  5. In League with Satan (Lant, Dunn) - 3:35
  6. Red Light Fever (Lant, Dunn) - 5:14


Bonus songs on the 2002 re-release

  2. Angel Dust (From the Lead Weight v / a) - 3:03
  3. In League with Satan (7 "version) - 3:32
  4. Live like an Angel (7 "version) - 3:53
  5. Bloodlust (7 "single) - 3:00
  6. In Nomine Satanas (7 "single) - 3:23
  7. Angel Dust (demo) - 3:12
  8. Raise the Dead (Demo) - 3:31
  9. Red Light Fever (demo) - 4:45
  10. Welcome to Hell (demo) - 4:58
  11. Bitch Witch (Outtake) - 3:07
  12. Snots Shit (Outtake) - 2:10

Music and lyrics

Sons of Satan is a fictional self-reference of the band with striking satanism . The song is largely based on a disharmonious riff .

The title track Welcome to Hell is similar in content to Sons of Satan . The text is also characterized by superficial depictions of violence, a spoken message is integrated into the middle section. The music is also riff-heavy, but more harmonious. The guitar also stands out more.

In Schizo the existence of a will serial killer described acting for his outside world like an average citizen and therefore seems innocuous. The last stanza calls for caution towards strangers. The song is kept fast and only slows down during the third verse, which is also shorter than the others.

With a playing time of just under a minute, Mayhem with Mercy is the shortest track on a Venom LP. An acoustic guitar and increasingly louder gong strikes can be heard in the instrumental , accompanied by a sound effect reminiscent of a blowing wind .

In Poison tells of a young woman who is the pride of their parents, but is likely to lead without their knowledge a dissolute sex life. The music is fast and based mostly on a simple riff.

Live like an Angel (Die like a Devil) is written from the perspective of a person who lives a hedonistic lifestyle. The song is one of the fastest on the album and, compared to most others, has little bass, so the guitar can be heard more clearly. It also includes a comparatively slow guitar solo .

Witching Hour starts with a half-minute sample that flows smoothly into the music. The song is kept fast and is also based on a simple riff. The text describes a witch's sabbath and the sacrifice of a child for Satan. The piece ends with several long drawn out screams.

One Thousand Days in Sodom describes the conditions in biblical Sodom . The song is strongly rhythmic and kept at a medium tempo.

Angel Dust is the shortest track on the album after Mayhem with Mercy , and drug use is an uncritical theme in the text . The music is played very quickly, with a guitar solo integrated into the middle section.

League with Satan begins with a backward message spoken by Cronos . It is mainly based on a steady drum rhythm and is kept comparatively slow, the vocals are underlaid with reverberation . In the text the submission of the lyric self to Satan is expressed.

Red Light Fever begins with a short violin intro . The actual song is played in a medium tempo, which increases towards the end. It is very rhythmically emphasized, but also includes a guitar solo in the middle section. Sex fantasies and the use of prostitutes' services are presented in the text .

layout

The cover shows a pentagram framed by a circle against a black background , in which a goat's head can be seen. The band logo is on the upper half of the picture, the album title in broken letters in the lower half . The graphic elements and letters are kept in yellow, whereby the hue of the various publications z. T. varies. The basic visuals were already used for the single In League with Satan . The cover was designed by Cronos.

Some versions of the album have small differences in the cover design; the first CD version and the MC version released by Metal Mind in 1993 are black and white. The cover of the Castle Records release from 1993 shows the graphics in red and the font in white, and the album title is in larger letters.

The back cover of the original LP is decorated with a black and white photo of the band members, who are reflected in a surface of water. The first publication also contained a poster.

reception

In Sounds Geoff Barton described the album as "possibly the heaviest record ever allowed in the shops for public consumption" (dt .: "perhaps the most serious recording, the public sale was ever allowed"), and compared the sound quality of the plate with a " fifty year old pizza ”. Kerrang writer Paul Elliott classified Welcome to Hell and its two successors Black Metal and At War with Satan as Venom's greatest albums. He compared the band with Motörhead and described the music as "brutal speed metal ". At the same time, Elliott saw the band as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and as a pioneer of Thrash Metal and compared their influence with that of Diamond Head and Iron Maiden .

The Rolling Stone listed Welcome to Hell in its list of the 100 best metal albums of all time at number 74. In the review, the record was described as "a trailblazer for Black Metal and Death Metal " and the band as a classic in a row with the Ramones and Motörhead.

Author Dayal Patterson included Welcome to Hell on his list of the Top Ten Black Metal Albums of All Time. The review highlighted the harsh sound and viewed the LP as historically more important than its successor. Patterson also saw the band as a trailblazer for Immortal .

Daniel Müller from the e-zine Crossfire awarded 9 out of 10 points and emphasized the musical proximity to punk and in the case of Schizo to rock 'n' roll , he compared the riff of the title track with that of 2 Minutes to Midnight .

The average rating in the Metal Archives is 90%, spread over 18 ratings.

On Rate Your Music , the album including the new releases was rated 3.65 out of a possible 5, based on 3541 reviews.

The overall rating of all issues on Discogs , based on 1153 reviews, averages 4.43 out of 5 points.

In a review on Allmusic , the sound quality of the album was described as so poor, as if it were recorded in a grave ("like it was recorded in a tomb").

The Norwegian black metal band Mayhem named themselves after the piece Mayhem with Mercy . Witching Hour was the namesake of the Saarland thrash metal band Witching Hour . The German metal band Poison was named after the song Poison , the name of the Dortmund group Angel Dust is also derived from the corresponding song Venoms. Sodom referred specifically to One Thousand Days in Sodom .

The title of the album When You Were Shouting at the Devil ... We Were in League With Satan (2008) by the Canadian metal band Zimmer Hole is based on Mötley Crües Shout at the Devil and Venoms In League with Satan .

Cover versions (selection)

Sons of Satan

Welcome to Hell

Schizo

  • Crucifixion BR 2000 on the live album Live Possession
  • Chainsaw 2014 at the demo Fuck the Church
  • Exhumed 2015 on the compilation Platters of Splatter: A Cyclopedic Symposium of Execrable Errata and Abhorrent Apocrypha 1992-2002

Mayhem with Mercy

  • Sigh on EP A Tribute to Venom in 2008

Poison

  • Mantas et al. 1984 on Demo Live Tape # 1
  • Warhammer 2009 on the limited edition of the album No Beast So Fierce ...
  • Came to Lee in 2016 as a single
  • Ringworm 2016 on the deluxe version of the album Snake Church
  • Terrör Striker 2017 on the limited version of the EP Hordes of Armageddon
  • Nekrofilth 2018 on the album Worm Ritual

Live like an Angel (Die like a Devil)

Witching Hour

  • Mayhem 1986 in two versions on the demo Deathrehearsel and 1987 on the demo or the EP Deathcrush
  • Slayer in 1995 on the live video Live Intrusion
  • Kreator 1998 on the sampler In The Name Of Satan - A Tribute To Venom
  • Speedwolf 2009 on the demo Bark at the Poon
  • Distürbia Cladis 2015 as a single under the title Witching Hour: A Fuckin 'Tribute to Venom
  • Gravehill 2016 on the limited version of the album Death Curse
  • Therion 2020 on the compilation Cover Songs 1993-2007

One Thousand Days in Sodom

  • Cronos 1995 on the album Venom
  • Sodom 1998 on the sampler In The Name Of Satan - A Tribute To Venom
  • Gortician on the 1998 album Metal Up Your Cunt
  • Bloodthirst on the 2009 split album Infernal Thrashing Kömmandments
  • Sanheim 2015 on the live split album Live Split

Angel Dust

In League with Satan

  • Six Feet Under 2000 on the album Graveyard Classics
  • Carpathian Forest 2002 on the compilation We're Going to Hell for This - Over a Decade of Perversions
  • Krisiun 2003 on the album Works of Carnage
  • Zimmer's Hole in 2008 on When You Were Shouting at the Devil ... We Were in League With Satan
  • Witch courses 2008 on the live album The Witch is Alive
  • Countess 2011 on the album On Wings of Defiance
  • Melvins 2013 as the b-side of the single A Tribute to Venom

Red light fever

  • Sadokist 2006 on the live album Live in Perkele

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c album review on crossfire-metal.de , accessed on August 9, 2020
  2. ↑ a b Dayal Patterson's list of the ten best black metal albums on the Decibel website , accessed on August 8, 2020
  3. ↑ a b c d Paul Elliott: Venom History on venom.nu (English), accessed on August 9, 2020
  4. ↑ Welcome to Hell on the Venom website, accessed on August 12, 2020
  5. ↑ quoted from: Frank Schäfer Harder than Motörhead. In: Junge Welt , June 11, 2019, p. 11
  6. ↑ The 100 greatest metal albums of all time on the Rolling Stone website , accessed on August 10, 2020
  7. ↑ Welcome to Hell in the Metal Archives (English), accessed on August 12, 2020
  8. ↑ Welcome to Hell on Rate Your Music , accessed August 8, 2020
  9. ↑ Welcome to Hell on Discogs , accessed on August 8, 2020
  10. ↑ Welcome to Hell at Allmusic (English), accessed on August 10, 2020
  11. ↑ Mayhem's band history on Mayhem's website, accessed on August 10, 2020
  12. ↑ a b When You Were Shouting at the Devil ... We Were in League With Satan in the Metal Archives (English), accessed on August 10, 2020
  13. ↑ A Long Journey in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 9, 2020
  14. ↑ a b c In The Name Of Satan - A Tribute To Venom on Discogs , accessed on August 12, 2020
  15. ↑ Tribute to Old School Metal on metalkingdom.net (English), accessed on August 12, 2020
  16. ↑ Critique of Conjuration on Metal.de , accessed on August 10, 2020
  17. ↑ Asian Demonslaught on the High Roller Records website , accessed August 10, 2020
  18. ↑ Looking Back to the Future in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 11, 2020
  19. ↑ The Lowlife Chronicles - Cryptic Slaughter 1984-1988 on Discogs , accessed on August 11, 2020
  20. ↑ Live Possession in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 10, 2020
  21. ↑ Fuck the Church on Bandcamp , accessed August 9, 2020
  22. ↑ Platters of Splatter: A Cyclopedic Symposium of Execrable Errata and Abhorrent Apocrypha 1992-2002 in the Metal Archives (English), accessed on August 9, 2020
  23. ↑ A Tribute to Venom on Discogs , accessed on August 12, 2020
  24. ↑ Live Tape # 1 in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 10, 2020
  25. ↑ No Beast So Fierce ... in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 10, 2020
  26. ^ Poison in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 10, 2020
  27. ↑ Snake Church (Deluxe Version) on iTunes , accessed August 10, 2020
  28. ↑ Hordes of Armageddon in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 10, 2020
  29. ↑ Worm Ritual on Discogs , accessed on August 11, 2020
  30. ↑ CorpseHunters on Bandcamp , accessed August 11, 2020
  31. ↑ Blasphemy Unchained in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 11, 2020
  32. ↑ Combat Shock on Rate Your Music , accessed August 11, 2020
  33. ↑ A Tribute to Venom on Discogs , accessed on August 10, 2020
  34. ↑ Heavy Metal Drinker in the Metal Archives (English), accessed on August 10, 2020
  35. ↑ Record review of For Doom the Bell tolls on schwarzenbayern.info , accessed on August 10, 2020
  36. ↑ Specters of the Night in the Metal Archives (English), accessed on August 10, 2020
  37. ↑ Deathrehearsel in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 9, 2020
  38. ↑ EP Deathcrush in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 9, 2020
  39. ↑ Slayer's discography on the band's website, accessed on August 11, 2020
  40. ↑ Bark at the Poon at melonvillehc.blogspot.com (English), accessed August 12, 2020
  41. ↑ Death Curse (limited version) on Discogs , accessed on August 11, 2020
  42. ↑ Cover Songs 1993–2007 on metalinvader.net (English), accessed on August 10, 2020
  43. ↑ Venom in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 10, 2020
  44. ↑ Metal Up Your Cunt in the Metal Archives (English), accessed on August 10, 2020
  45. ↑ Infernal Thrashing Comandments on Discogs , accessed on August 10, 2020
  46. ↑ Live Split on Bandcamp , accessed on August 10, 2020
  47. ↑ Anachronism on Discogs , accessed on August 10, 2020
  48. ↑ Black Metal on Discogs , accessed on August 10, 2020
  49. ↑ Forbidden Path of Unthinkable Evil in the Metal Archives , accessed on August 10, 2020
  50. ↑ Demo 2002 in the Metal Archives (English), accessed on August 11, 2020
  51. ↑ EP - Evil Power in the Metal Archives (English), accessed on August 10, 2020
  52. ↑ Motörized Metal / Born To Spread The Mayhemic Loudness on Discogs , accessed on August 10, 2020
  53. ↑ Graveyard Classics from Allmusic , accessed on August 10, 2020
  54. ↑ We're Going to Hell for This - Over a Decade of Perversions in the E-Zine Metal Observer , accessed on August 10, 2020
  55. ↑ Works of Carnage on Metal.de , accessed on August 10, 2020
  56. ↑ The Witch is Alive at spirit-of-metal.com (English), accessed on August 12, 2020
  57. ↑ On Wings of Defiance at spirit-of-metal.com (English), accessed on August 11, 2020
  58. ↑ A Tribute to Venom on MusicBrainz , accessed on August 12, 2020
  59. ↑ EP Live in Perkele on finnishblackmetal.blogspot.com (English), accessed on August 10, 2020
Venom
Conrad "Cronos" Lant  • La Rage • Danny "Danté" Needham
Jeffrey "Mantas" Dunn  • Anthony "Abaddon" Bray • Clive "Jesus Christ" Archer • Alan Winston • James "Jimi" Clare • Mike "Mykvs" Hickey • Alastair "Big Al" Barnes • Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan • VXS • Steve "War Maniac" White • Anton "Antton" Lant
Studio albums

Welcome to Hell (1981) • Black Metal (1982) • At War with Satan (1984) • 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) • Fallen Angels (2011) • From the Very Depths (2015) • Storm the Gates (2018)

Live albums

A Little Night Music (1986)