Venom

Black Metal

Mainly historically important, music kind of [poor]

Review Score:

(6/10)
Back in the days of my youth and inexperience in pursuing metal music, I heard an old and wise sage of age 28 instruct us youngsters: "Venom. That's where it's at. It's even more extreme than Slayer."

Of course, with a description like that, I had to buy it. I got it home, unwrapped it and poppped it in... and started laughing. Yes, this music has some great attributes, namely raw spirit and a surly habit of linking up barely musically relevant fragments of primitive riff. No, it's not listening I prefer, stylistically or artistically. To my young ears, it sounded like Motley Crue in a garage practice, and to this day I still write it off as incompetent heavy metal that inspired better bands.

Heavy metal riffs put together haphazardly in strange, neo-operatic constructions which follow no recognized rock song format, with gruff vocals and throbbing, constant drumming, form pieces of music which are unrelenting but often a close shave from directionless. Anthemic choruses are gratifying but, on the whole, the basic nature of this music and its lack of artistic ambition make it annoying when repeated, like a department store jingle or digitized school bell.

This, through its sheer incompetence and lack of fear of the random, brought a generation of bands upon metal who sought to escape from conventional rock theory and technicality. What they created is far more important than this tangential influence. If you want more of this experience, try Bathory and Slayer and newer versions like Fester and Black Goat.

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