Nice NWOBHM and black metal stuff but lacks production

Review Score: (6/10)
As we know that,Venom was always categorized as a NWOBHM band along with Maiden or Leppard in early 80's. But in fact they really differ from these bands. Especially with their music and their image.Also they highly influenced some bands like Metallica,Slayer and Death. Lars Ulrich(Metallica's drummer) said that "Welcome to Hell" was the first album that started the thrash metal genre.I think this is true because with its brutal sound this album is a basis for both black,thrash,speed and death metal(but mostly black metal).Also their sound is like NWOBHM but their satanic image like Black Sabbath makes it more black metal.(Of course much more satanic than Sabbath!!).Also there were some NWOBHM bands who used satanic symbols like Angel Witch,Satan,Witchfynde.But their music was classic metal so Venom was unique in their sound. Because they are more brutal.Anyway, I think this album is quite nice but the production of the album is really terrible! Maybe they recorded this album within 7 days or something?? Also vocals of Cronos is really bad but this vocal style influenced many black metal vocalists.Another weak point with this album is Mantas' strange guitar sound. In fact he is playing easy riffs but you cannot understand what he is playing with his guitar because of bad production. Despite these negative sides, "Welcome to hell" has very good classics in it like, "Welcome to Hell", "Poison", "Sons of Satan", "Live like an angel"(sounds closer to Saxon) and the magnificent "Schizo". So as a general review this album is a distorted and brutal NWOBHM album(or we can say that it is a distorted version of Saxon or Def Leppard) and their satanic influences from Sabbath makes it the first black metal album ever. Really I hate black metal and this is the only black metal CD that have but this is a really classic!!!!!!

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