About Me
Venom was formed when the band Guillotine renamed themselves in 1979. Originally, they featured Jeffrey Dunn on guitar, Dave Blackman on vocals, Dave Rutherford on second guitar, Dean Hewitt on bass guitar, and Chris Mercaters on drums. Later that year, Blackman and Mercater were replaced by drummer Tony Bray and vocalist Clive Archer of Oberon. Soon after, Alan Winston replaced Dean Hewitt on bass and Conrad Lant (of Album Garcia) replaced Rutherford on guitar.A few days before their first show, Venom's bassist Alan Winston left the band, and Conrad Lant was forced to replace him.In 1980, Venom decided to use satanic references, and the band members renamed themselves. Clive Archer became "Jesus Christe", Conrad Lant became "Cronos", Tony Bray became "Abbadon", and Jeffrey Dunn became "Mantas". That April, the band recorded a three song demo of "Angel Dust", "Raise The Dead", and "Red Light Fever". Soon afterward, 6 more demo tracks were recorded for just £50, with Cronos taking vocal duties on the song "Live Like An Angel". Clive Archer soon left the band, and Venom's lineup was finally somewhat stable.Venom was signed by Neat Records and debuted in 1981 with the single "In League with Satan" / "Live Like An Angel". Later that year they released Welcome to Hell, which was a remarkable tour de force at the time, when Satan was rarely mentioned. It is also credited as influencing a lot of thrash metal bands, specifically Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. It pushed the boundaries of thrash metal to the extremes from the get go, and the beginnings of a new genre were starting to emerge.Their second album, Black Metal (1982) is often cited as important in the development of black metal, thrash metal, and death metal. Many elements of these genres are found in the lyrics, song titles, and guitar solos performed by Mantas.While many fans and musicians see Venom as an important band, others disagree. In his Black Flag tour diary, singer Henry Rollins wrote about a 1986 performance when Black Flag opened for Venom. He opines that Venom were "Weak" and that "the guitar player was so bad it was painful" and "They were hilarious. It was like seeing Spinal Tap ... I expected them to go into "Sex Farm" at any second."As Godfathers of black metal, when asked about the actions of the later black metal bands and their church burnings as well as the often times out of hand stage shows; Venom have spoken out against those acts, stating that these artists are taking the music they make much too seriously. The point was to make controversial music and not to hurt anybody, claiming that what they do is wrong; however this differs from interview to interview.Towards the end of 2005, Venom released a career defining 4-disc box set MMV Which includes, an Exclusive mini-poster of the band's 7 dates tour of Europe with Metallica and a 60 Page Picture book, with interviews and pictures. The 4 Disc set includes all their hit's as well as live tracks, demo's and outtakes.In March 2006, Venom released their latest album, named "Metal Black", featuring original frontman Cronos along with his brother Antton on drums, and Mickey 'H' aka Mykvs. The album is a return to Venom's sound in "Black Metal", as signified by the name "Metal Black".
Venom - In Nomine Satanas
