Thrifty Tunes 08.15.09: Venom - Welcome To Hell

Posted by Paul Hollingsworth on 08.15.2009

Two unholy kingdoms reign the land of metal. Connecting the two is a stygian wasteland of chaos, devilry and macabre fates. This wasteland is ruled by a band of necromancers known as Venom. In this week's Thrifty Tunes, I take my first steps into the abyss.

Schizoid - Venom

Black Sabbath created the formula for heavy metal in the early 1970's, which consisted of down tuned guitars, quasi-mysticism, a dash of Satanism, a healthy serving of rebellion and a heavy dose of horror movie antics. Later bands took one or more of these elements and pushed the envelope even further or darker. (Alice Cooper took the horror movie route about as far as it could go, for instance.) It wasn't until the rise of Metallica in the mid and late 80's, however, when new things (mainly speed and dark, but not necessarily demonic, themes) were introduced into what made a band metal. There were many bands between the birth of Sabbath and the rise of Metallica which tried, with varying degrees of success, to move the music forward. (Judas Priest , Iron Maiden , AC/DC and early Motley Crue are examples of some of the more successful attempts) but only one offers an almost direct link between Sabbath and Metallica, and that band is Venom .

With the sole exception of "Schizoid", which sounds like an updated (for the time) version of Sabbath's "Paranoid", the music on Venom's 1981's debut Welcome To Hell , is almost unlistenable. The band appears to have a basic, at best, understanding of their instruments, and the production values barely rise above garage-band territory. Lead singer Chronos, has the sort of voice which makes dogs, demons and non-tone deaf people cry. I'm also convinced that everything about this record was meant to be abrasive, offensive and confrontational.

In the history of music, there are bands which exist only to take the first step in a new musical direction more fully explored by later bands. Venom definitely fits this category. They took one element of Sabbath's success, that of Satanism, ramped it up to ten, added a bit of punk's 'I don't care' attitude, and made music which sounds like the thoughts of an frenzied, suicidal schizophrenic. The lyrics are no different than the poems written by 13 year old anti-everything teenagers on the back on notebooks in every classroom in the world, and the themes are silly,at best, and cringe worthy at worst.("Put away all your virtues/Stop your climbing the walls/Just sign your name on the paper/We'll have ourselves a ball" from "Sons of Satan" is a typical example.) The one defining element of all the songs is the speed in which they are delivered, which shows an obvious debt to the punk movement of the time. Venom added this style of play to metal guitar, and from this addition, gave metal a new form of expression.

The big four of what came to be known as thrash metal (Metallica , Slayer , Anthrax and Megadeth) obviously owe their very existence to Venom. (One of Metallica's first large scale tours was as an opening act on Venom's Seven Dates of Hell Tour in 1984.) However, the musicians in those bands were more musically talented and were able to take the sounds into a more musical and (Satan forbid!) accessible style. At times, on songs like "In League With Satan", it seems like the band took itself as far as it could, and had nothing else to offer. (And I'm not going to even get into the silliness the band inspired in the Norwegian black metal scene, which is, with the possible exception of the songs of Mariah Carey , the worst music ever recorded in the history of the planet.)

The band released several more albums in the early 80's, (most notably 1982's Black Metal) but each release offered only rehashes of what the band had previously done, and didn't lead anywhere new. (Again, the silliness in Scandinavia doesn't count.) The band's newest album, Hell was released last year, and except for a rather interesting and musically complex instrumental piece, the band doesn't seem to have changed that much, sound or lyric-wise. Song titles like "USA For Satan" and "Straight To Hell" serve only to reinforce the notion of a band caught in arrested development.



Complete Track Listing: (1981 release on Neat Records)

Side One:
1. Sons of Satan
2. Welcome to Hell
3. Schizoid
4. Mayhem With Mercy
5. Poison
6. Live Like an Angel (Die Like a Devil)

Side Two:
1. Witching Hour
2. One Thousand Days in Sodom
3. Angel Dust
4. In League With Satan
5. Red Light Fever

Venom is directly responsible for the rise of thrash, black and death metal, but at the same time, one of the most musically challenged bands to ever land a record deal. Lemmy Kilmeister , one of the more respected godfathers of metal, said the band were barely tolerable as musicians and looked as though they were faking it on stage. Like most bands of the type, however, it's not the music which grabs you, but the attitude. If you're thirteen, this band will blow you away, but if you're a bit older, even by just a year or two, it won't have the same effect. Thankfully, bands like Metallica and Slayer heard the band at the right age and went on to perfect the noise that Venom started.

Pickett Stars: One out of Five (The band itself, solely because of its influence would get a much higher rating, but this record, is for intents and purposes, completely unlistenable.)

Next Week : Gold Afternoon Fix by The Church