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Venom – New Date New Venue! Ogden Tickets Will Be Honored

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Venom is a black metal/thrash metal band, formed in 1979, in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Influenced by rock and heavy metal acts such as Judas Priest, The Sex Pistols, KISS and Motörhead, Venom created a sound as well an image that would be a big influence to early death, black, and thrash metal bands at the time, and the pioneers of the genre of black metal. Mayhem, Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Hellhammer, Eudoxis, and Morbid Angel cite Venom as a major influence. Though musically they are more closely related to early thrash metal, it was their lyrical topics and harsher vocals which separated them from other bands at the time (usually dealing with Satan and Hell and other “black” topics). Their first two records, Welcome to Hell in 1981 and Black Metal in 1982, set the bar for black metal to follow. The original members went by the pseudonyms: Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon.

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 speed metal to the extremes from the get go, and the beginnings of a new genre were starting to emerge.
Cover of “Black Metal”
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Cover of “Black Metal”

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.