VENOM - BLACK METAL 1st UK Press 1982 Lyric inserts poster Bloodstock Emperor

	£		62
	$		82

VENOM -

BLACK METAL

NEAT 1005

1st UK Press 1982

"RITHLOE "  and "UTOPIA" etched into the runout grooves

Superb original album from 1982 with its original inner lyric sheet and other extras. The LP is probably unplayed. Inside te spindle hole some vinyl debris from the mnufacturing plant is still present.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

• Matrix / Runout (Side A): NEAT 1005 A
• Matrix / Runout (Side B): NEAT 1005 B Utopia "RIHTLOE"
• Rights Society: MCPS

One of the very rarest metal albums from the UK and any time this album comes up for sale there is a sense of excitement. This one is in exceptional condition and I doubt it very much that it will ever be bettered. It comes complete with its embossed sleeve and lyric insert. Also offered are a band poster and journal clippings from 1982.

This album was rumoured to have started the black and death metal movement.

The opening sounds of a chainsaw cutting through a door let you know that this is no ordinary album. Venom’s goal was the create the most shocking music imaginable and they succeeded in spectacular fashion, nobody had pushed the envelope this far. Venom took the satanic lyrics that Black Sabbath only hinted at and built their whole image around them. Much like KISS had done, Venom created a larger than life image that caught people’s attention, the pentagrams on the album covers, the “evil” pseudonyms, sure it got them lots and lots of negative attention but any publicity is good publicity right"

With better production than the debut; which isn’t saying much, “Black Metal” is still very raw, a quality that would be imitated many years later by other black metal bands. It sounds like theses guys just go together in a basement and started jamming. Although this album gave the subgenre it’s name, it’s not really black metal per se, it’s more of a thrash metal album with satanic lyrics. Album opener “Black Metal” is fast and heavy with some good riffing and extremely simple drumming, but that was part of the image, Venom weren’t interested in musical proficiency, they were just making a loud racket and singing(barking") insane blasphemies. Guitarist Mantas is clearly the most talented musician here and he unleashes some very memorable riffs on “Black Metal” on tracks such as “Heaven’s on Fire” and “Countess Bathory” as well as a solos on “Buried Alive” and “Sacrifice.” “Teacher’s Pet” is a precursor to Van Halen’s “Hot for the Teacher” albeit much bolder and explicit: “Played hide and seek with teachers mouth, her lips were warm and wet.” The track “Countess Bathory” began metal’s infatuation with the infamous countess and later Cradle of Filth would dedicate an entire album to her. Cronos’ gravelly vocals were extreme for the time but not over the top and still decipherable. A far cry from what the genre’s vocal style would become.

Overall, the musicianship is very simple which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but Abbadon isn’t exactly Neil Peart behind the kit. The lyrics are incredibly juvenile but maybe after the topics that have touched on by bands like Cannibal Corpse we have become jaded and the lyrics in “Black Metal” must have been much more powerful in 1982. The album ends with a preview of the title track for their next album “At War With Satan.” 

Bands such as Slayer and Bathory, considered highly influential today for thrash and black metal respectively, got many ideas from Venom and “Black Metal” is the foundation for every form of what can be classified as “extreme metal.” It also inspired some young and impressionable Norwegians, apparently unaware that this was not meant to be taken seriously, to commit numerous atrocities like church burnings and murders, horrific crimes that would scare Cronos right out of his spiked armbands! It also unfortunately inspired bands like Darkthrone to imitate their ultra lo-fi recording techniques, how is it possible that nearly thirty years later, Darkthrone’s production is actually WORSE than Venom’s" Even though their debut “Welcome to Hell” was also highly influential, “Black Metal” is the most known for spawning a subgenre that took it’s name but it also was the cornerstone of thrash and death metal, many metal bands that are considered great today were highly influenced Venom and their influence continues to be felt, much more so than many of their contemporaries who shunned Venom at the time. Not bad for a publicity stunt.

Vinyl: NM.  Not even one single spindle trace. Audio is phenomenal and this vinyl sounds out of this world, a majestic classic. Played on my Project Debut deck with Ortofon cartridge and B&W speakers.The audio has beautiful separation and there is no background noise. There are no marks and  no hairlines, this vinyl looks and sounds great with a beautiful sheen. Under a strong light there are a couple of paper retraction traces, these are completely invisible in normal daylight and even new vinyls will have these. I played this in full and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was even tempted to keep this as it will be impossible to find this ever again, it is indeed mega rare these days. Only two or three went up for sale this last year. Needless to say NO jumps or clicks. This is a real stunner, upgrade and in museum like conditions.

 Sleeve: EX+. Fantastic looked after single sleeve without any issues. Beautiful deep unfaded colours. A superb iconic sleeve with the fantastic artwork. NO creases. A  superb  spine with just very light storage wear on the sharp edges. NO tears and NO splits The album has been kept in a protective sleeve!!  No writing, NO tears, NO splits etc. Only extremely light wear on the corners and a fully legible spine.

Super crisp opening.  Please let the pictures fully inform you of the quality at hand. Probably one of the best you will ever find for this insanely rare album. A phenomenally scarce album and rumoured to only have been pressed in a quantity of a couple of hundreds. How many would have survived over the last 36 years??

This still retains its original lyric inner sheet.

International postage will incur an extra fee for tracking if over £30.00. Please wait for me to send you an adjusted invoice before paying. The tracked fee will be at actual Royal Mail grade. I do not profit from postage and actually undercharge.

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