Welcome to Hell [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Venom (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 2, 2006)
• Original Release Date: July 2, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Metal-Is
• ASIN: B0000DETET
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #109,037 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to Hell!?, December 20, 2007

By	DMYNKEE "DMYNKEE" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

A good album to have to understand where Death/Black metal(or thrash) began. A fairly solid album at the time it can wear on todays listener who expects everthing to be perfect because between the semi decent songs, lyrics, and instument playing many may feel this is what Satan will play for them when they arrive in HELL!! However, the extreme RAWNESS of this album will work for the rest of us who miss the days of non perfect/WHERE THE HELL IS THE SINGLES THAT WILL SELL MILLIONS FOR US RECORD/PIG COMPANIES. Thank fully VENOM came around when a band was expected to be different not some perfect kissass like many of todays band.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loud AND Obnoxious!, December 12, 2007

By	Warren Fischer "warrenfischer" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The original Black Metal band! Loud, obnoxious, offensive, and GREAT! Crank it up and offend almost anyone!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff., September 18, 2008

By	Amy "circleofdestruction.net" (outer space) - See all my reviews

This is the sort of music that made parents hate heavy metal, even though bands like Black Sabbath got more press because of it. Of course, that's because a lot of people had never heard of Venom. I was listening to Slayer and Morbid Angel long before I ever owned a Black Sabbath album, so by the time I attempted to listen to Sabbath's quasi-dark image coupled with Ozzy's whining for God to help him it just appalled me; it seemed like the whole band and their image was a sham. I couldn't understand why anyone liked them. I still can't stand Ozzy's voice, and if it weren't for sort of fun songs like "Sweet Leaf," I wouldn't have taken the time to try to listen to Sabbath at all. On the other hand, despite cheesy, tongue in cheek lyrics, Venom felt like the real deal. Having been aware of their influence on thrash without actually having heard them, as a teenager I hunted down copies of Welcome to Hell and Black Metal.

These appalled me for a different reason but ended up growing on me. The really appalling thing was the production quality. You could barely make out what the instruments were doing. It took repeated listenings before it even began to sound like something resembling music. Even then, it was apparent that this wasn't the most tight or technically-proficient band. It was clear that they weren't popular enough to do an album with great sound quality. Their appearance was also totally silly and gimmicky-looking. These are all legitimate reasons to dislike them, but on the other hand, they had a certain charm. They were certainly more appealing to me as a teenager than Black Sabbath. They had more of a garage band sound, and with the pentagram on the cover and lyrics about Satan, this was the sort of album you had to hide or your parents might throw it away and start inviting priests over to dinner. I hid my copy behind a rack of magazines in my bedroom. And that's all part of what made it fun; unlike Black Sabbath, this actually seemed subversive. Black Sabbath had occult imagery; Venom was the sort of band you'd expect to see playing at a drunken party in the pits of hell. It was pure blasphemous fun; and made no apologies for its silliness and blasphemy. And unlike Diamond Head, who also had songs with "Evil" in the title, they actually sounded evil.

Despite admittedly shoddy musicianship and production, the attitude of the songs on this is what makes it really stand out. So what if Cronos can't sing and none of them can play their instruments well; they got the job done. For the time, this was crushingly heavy-sounding stuff. Sure, it doesn't seem as crushingly heavy today, but the crushingly heavy bands of today wouldn't have been properly inspired if it weren't for Venom. And I suppose that's the argument for why this is a great and historically important album.

My copy has been sitting in my parents' attic for umpteen years, and after rediscovering it, it still retains all the charm it had when I first listened to it. This is fun stuff. "In League with Satan" is one of the best songs ever, very catchy, but in general so are all the songs on here. "1000 days in Sodom" is another favorite of mine. Great chorus, and the bass is very groovy. It's like pure evil with a side of cheese. The horrible demo-like quality just adds to the atmosphere of it all. A piece of music history. This is what it's all about.