Black Metal [IMPORT]

Venom

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 11, 2002)
• Original Release Date: July 2, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Phantom Sound & Vision
• ASIN: B00005V332
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #144,805 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
UK remastered reissue of 1982 debut with nine added bonus tracks, 'Bursting Out' (60 minute + version), 'Black Metal' (Radio One session), 'Nightmare' (Radio One Session), 'Too Loud For The Crowd' (Radio One Session), 'Bloodlust' (Radio One Session), 'Die Hard' (12 inch version), 'Acid Queen' (12 inch version), 'Bursting Out' (12 inch version) & 'Hounds Of Hell' (outtake). Housed in a embossed slipcase.2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BLACK METAL GODS ROCK N ROLL!, March 26, 2002

By	Kevin Dobbs "dragonboots" (Perth Western Australia) - See all my reviews

I will always remember the fateful day when a school friend handed me Venom's very own "Black Metal" opus and suggested I give it a spin. With trepidation I placed the vinyl on my stereo and although the sound was harsh and brutal you knew you were listening to something exciting and new. It was strangely perverse yet deliciously addictive...plus your parents hated it which is a huge bonus for any teenager. You will never catch your Mommy singing anything on offer here whilst dusting the Wedgewood figurines. And here it is again repackaged, remastered and beefed up with extra trax looking as resplendant as the day it was spewed from the sooty depths of Hell. Embossed and glossy the horned one invites you to slip back the cover and enter Hades if you dare? After the grating intro of steel on steel (which had you checking your stylus for defects) Cronos invites you to join the band in the worship of "Black Metal". A rip roarer of a song with chainsaw guitars, out of control drums and wolverine vocals its obvious this band means serious harm to your health and general well being. "To Hell and Back" is next which demonstrates the quantum leap the band's songwriting has taken since their delightfully basic debut album. You can imagine yourself a stride some gargoyle demon in flight travelling through the depths of the infernos. "Buried Alive" with its all too realistic soil on coffin lid sound effects and the coffins all too alive inhabitant waking to find his very dark confines are all too real. A true triumph of a song which is still disturbing all these years later. "Raise the Dead" belts out next with great bursts of Mantas guitar work firing from the speakers like sparks from an anvil. Venom always had a sense of humour and it shows on "Teachers Pet" which is the most politically incorrect ditty you will ever hear. Suprising is the fact that it does not contain a Satanic reference at all, and equally suprising that it contains an eyebrow raising blues style passage of guitar work mid way. Side two is as strong containing great concept songs such as "Countess Bathory" and "Don't Burn The Witch" and great slabs of frenzy as "Leave Me In Hell" and "Heaven's On Fire". You may conjur the bearded one himself by playing "Sacrifice" so beware! The outro of "At War With Satan" wets the appetite for more mayhem next time around. The extra trax on offer include an assortment of 12" versions of singles released around the same time the highlight being the classic "Die Hard" with genuine hard man backing vocals. Also we are given a collection of radio sessions that loose some of the greatness of the originals in the translation but are still great to have for the admission cost. I've enjoyed re-aquainting myself with all three of these awesome re-issues so much that I am thinking of buying them again!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best Metal albums Ever!!!, February 16, 2003

By	Rob Michaels "axe7734" (portage, mi. United States) - See all my reviews

The first Venom album I ever heard was "At War With Satan". I hated it. It was raw, crude and extremely blasphemous. Now I love it. Venom's music really has to grow on you. You'll probably either love it or think it's total garbage. "Black Metal", their second album, recorded in '82, is one of the best albums of its kind. It's the one that set the tone for all other black metal bands. Many have copied Venom's style, and many have failed. But this is the original. This is a new "remastered" version, but to be honest, the sound quality isn't really that much of an improvement, but that's okay. It still kicks ... Starting with the simplistic, but furious, title track, to the eerie & haunting "Buried Alive", to the raunchy, yet bluesy "Teacher's Pet", to the powerful "Leave Me In Hell", a song about a demonic being who wants to stay unborn and remain in Hell, & which opened side two of the original LP, to the classic "Countess Bathory", to the cool & scary epic, "Don't Burn The Witch" and ending with the "At War With Satan (intro)",which previewed the next album. This CD will either make you sick to your stomach or have you banging your ... head all day & night! Plus it's got NINE bonus tracks, like "Die Hard", 2 versions of "Bursting Out", the previously unreleased "Hounds Of Hell", Radio 1 Sessions and other Satanic goodies. But beware! This ain't for the squeamish.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Venom were different!, November 30, 2005

By	Mr.Vengeance (Canada) - See all my reviews

(My Review scale: 1- Bad, 2- Average, 3- Good, 4- Very Good, 5- Excellent/Classic)

Venom's second album stands as a huge jump from their debut, Welcome To Hell. On Black Metal, Venom managed to maintain the sonic pounding of the debut, while improving their musicianship.

The sound is still pretty muddy, but Cronos delivers some pretty good vocals. Compared with most of the tuneless shouters who are prevalent in this type of metal, Cronos is freaking Pavarotti!

Mantas really is advanced here as his guitar shreds anything that came before it! Songs like "Black Metal", "Buried Alive", "Blood Lust" and "Sacrifice" all are relentless in their sonic pounding.

Venom's lyrics I can take or leave. I'm not really into the satanic thing. But for those into that sort of stuff, Black Metal is far more satanic than the debut. And, in terms of lyrics, they are pretty inventive. They don't seem hokey even after all these years, which is more than I can say for a lot of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond's lyrics. (I like Fate/King, by the way)

Venom invented the black metal genre, and no one ever did it better. I can't decide if I like this effort or At War With Satan more, but they are both 5 stars, simply for their adventurous nature, and the way they developed a whole new form of metal. There are really no bad songs on Black Metal...and like most Venom albums, you kind of feel proud to be able to sit and listen to them from beggining to end, because that's how relentless they are. Too bad this Nu Metal sludge we are presented with in 2005 can't be this cool!