Venom (band)

The classic line-up: Tony "Abaddon" Bray, Conrad "Cronos" Lant and Jeff "Mantas" Dunn.

Lay down your souls to the gods rock `n' roll!

—"Black Metal"

Venom is a metal band from the United Kingdom. To try and stand out from the other artists, they were the first band to introduce a highly satanic image and lyrical approach, thus becoming the very first First Wave of Black Metal band. Their fast music was also very influential to the Thrash Metal genre. Despite helping launch two of the most prominent genres of metal today, even in their most popular years they were criticized for lacking musical skills. However, they made up for that with enthusiasm and good showmanship.

Not to be confused with the Spider-Man villain.

Discography:

• Welcome to Hell (1981)
• Black Metal (1982)
• At War With Satan (1983)
• Possessed (1985)
• Calm Before the Storm (1987, also known as Metal Punk and Beauty and the Beast)
• Prime Evil (1989)
• Temples of Ice (1991)
• The Waste Lands (1992)
• Cast in Stone (1997)
• Resurrection (2000)
• Metal Black (2006)
• Hell (2008)
• Fallen Angels (2011)

Venom (band) provides examples of the following tropes:

• Blood Bath: The song "Countess Bathory" from Black Metal is obviously about the Trope Maker, Elizabeth Bathory, and makes mention of her bathing in blood.
• Buried Alive: Black Metal has a song with the same title and theme.
• Chainsaw Good: "Black Metal" kicks off with a chainsaw.
• Cover Version: They have covered "Megalomania" and "Speed King".
• Darker and Edgier: Venom was the first band to use heavily dark and satanic themes, compared to the other bands back in the day.
• Dramatic Wind: Black Flag singer Henry Rollins claims that band used portable fans to keep their hair flowing while performing on stage.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Black Metal had "preview version" of "At War With Satan".
• Epic Rocking: "At War With Satan", which clocks at over 19 minutes. Also "Cursed" and "Damned & Destroyed".
• Filk Song: "Clarisse" from The Waste Lands is based on The Silence of the Lambs.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: "Faerie Tale" from Temples of Ice.
• Genre Popularizer: They were highly influential to the Black Metal scene, along with Bathory. Welcome to Hell is also claimed to be the first Thrash Metal album.
• Greatest Hits Album: Starting in the early 90's, lots of them are released between every album.
• Heavy Meta: "Black Metal", "Too Loud (For the Crowd)".
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Cronos has made guest appearances with Probot, Cradle of Filth and Hammerfall
• Hot for Student: Many of their raunchier songs share this theme.
• I Am the Band: At one point in the late eighties, drummer Abaddon was the only original member. Nowadays, Cronos has taken that position.
• Instrumentals: "Wing and a Prayer" from Possessed.
• Intercourse with You: "Poison", "Red Light Fever", "Teacher's Pet", "Voyeur", "Skool Daze", "Playtime".
• Lighter and Softer: Mantas' first solo album, which was more melodic offering and featured syntherizers.
• Mad Lib Metal Lyrics: Just about every song.
• Nightmare Dreams: "Nightmare", both the song and it's music video.
• Rock Trio
• Stage Names: Venom made them stable for the Black Metal genre.
• Start My Own: Singer Cronos and guitarist Mantas both had their own solo projects.
• Three Chords and the Truth
• Title by Number: "Thirteen", the thirteenth track of Resurrection.
• To Hell and Back: The name of track 2 of Black Metal.
• Trope Maker / Trope Namer: Black Metal.
  • Unbuilt Trope: For starters, they didn't take the Satanic themes seriously, unlike plenty of Black Metal bands to follow. Otherwise, Three Chords and the Truth and low sound quality are among the only things Venom and their modern successors have in common in terms of sound.
• Ur Example: Many people believe Welcome to Hell to be the world's first Thrash Metal album.
• Xtremely Kool Letterz: Songtitles "Skool Daze" and "Krackin' Up".