Black Metal (Venom album)



Black Metal is the second album by English heavy metal band Venom. It was released in November 1982, during the great flourishing of metal music in the UK that was the new wave of British heavy metal, and is considered a major influence on the thrash metal, death metal and black metal scenes that emerged in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Although lending its name to the latter subgenre of heavy metal, today it is still debated if the album's music is thrash metal or black metal. AllMusic has described it as "extreme metal", while Moynihan & Søderlind in their book affirm that the album "carved in stone some of [black metal's] essential features". Nevertheless, its lyrics and imagery were a major influence on the early Norwegian black metal scene.

The cover art was made by the band's bassist and singer Conrad "Cronos" Lant.

Legacy

 * In 1998, it was voted the 52nd among the 100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die by the British magazine Kerrang! readers.
 * It was included in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
 * The title track was featured on the soundtrack of the video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.

Covers

 * Alchemist covered "Black Metal" for a tribute album.
 * Blitzkrieg covered "Countess Bathory" on their album Unholy Trinity.
 * Cradle of Filth covered the song "Black Metal" on the special edition of their album Cruelty and the Beast.
 * Dark Forest, a black metal band from Brazil, covered the song "Black Metal" on their demo Sodomized by Depraved Goat from 2003.
 * Dimmu Borgir covered the song "Black Metal", as the Japanese version bonus track on their album In Sorte Diaboli.
 * Heidenland covered "Black Metal" as a hidden track on the 1999 demo cassette Triomftocht voor de glorie van Wodan.
 * Hypocrisy did a cover of the song "Black Metal" on the album Osculum Obscenum.
 * Isegrim made a cover album called A Tribute to Venom.
 * Machetazo covered "Black Metal"; it appears on their compilation Ultratumba.
 * Mayhem, whose guitarist and bandleader Euronymous hailed Venom as an important black metal band, covered "Black Metal" on their Pure Fucking Armageddon demo.
 * Messiah Marcolin did a cover of "Countess Bathory".
 * Necrodeath made a cover of "Countess Bathory" on their album Draculea released in 2007.
 * Obituary covered "Buried Alive" for their greatest hits compilation, entitled Anthology.
 * Sigh covered multiple songs off of this album (as well as other Venom albums) on To Hell and Back: Sigh's Tribute to Venom in 1995, and on A Tribute to Venom in 2008, along with other EPs and splits.
 * The Soft Pink Truth, Drew Daniel of Matmos' house side project, covered the title track on his 2014 record Why Do The Heathen Rage?
 * Unleashed covered "Countess Bathory" on Shadows in the Deep.
 * Vader covered "Black Metal" on their album Necropolis.
 * Macabre covered "Countess Bathory" for their album Grim Scary Tales.
 * Warpath covered "Black Metal" for their album When War Begins.
 * Kazjurol covered "Countess Bathory" for their EP Body Slam.

Credits

 * Cronos – vocals, bass
 * Mantas – guitars
 * Abaddon – drums
 * Keith Nichol - producer, engineer