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Venom
FALLEN ANGELS
Unlike most metalheads, I think I’m somewhat sacrilegious when it comes to my non-appreciation of Venom. They are one of two acts that I know are just worshipped in the metal community, but I simply do not get the appeal at all (the other being King Diamond). That being said, I had very little expectation for a new Venom release, and yet, they came though with what is a fairly solid effort.
Is this great, no. But it is Venom doing what they do and yet being a touch stronger than normal for them in my eyes. First and foremost, kudos to them for finally figuring out how to capture their sound in the studio. They have a career of bad recordings behind them, so it’s good to hear them recorded well. Secondly, these songs on FALLEN ANGELS are not the typical Venom dirges of anger and hatred surrounded by lacking musicianship. In short, these songs sound like songs played by professional musicians. Sure, listening to a song like “Beggarman” are still raw and raucous, but they are much tighter than this band usually sounds. The overall sound is a shade different than in the past too, as it sounds like there’s just a touch of a modern flair to the songs found on FALLEN ANGELS. It’s a good quality for them.
Individually – well, it’s Venom. Cronos is still a bad singer/ranter, but his dirges are expected and meet expectations throughout. He croaks it out with vengeance on songs like “Lap Of The Gods”. He also lays down a much more solid, less distorted bassline than ever before on this release. He and drummer Dante create a thick, yet somewhat raw and flattened foundation on songs like “Hail Satanas”. On guitar, La Rage is full of that early punk meets Metal sound that has defined Venom’s career. To listen to him play on songs like “Hammerhead”, it’s clear that he’s not the best player on the planet but knows how to craft his music to what is needed from song to song. Overall, these guys come together and create a decent enough effort from start to finish.
PITRIFF RATING – 68/100 - I’m well aware that this is more of a Cronos solo album than a true Venom album featuring the original guys. To be honest, I don’t care, as I’m not really a fan nor do I have any intention of ever seeing these guys live. That said, if you are into the spirit of Venom or just respect them for their contributions to the history of Metal, then you will probably appreciate this. It’s not great, but it doesn’t suck either. It’s Venom – based on that sentence alone you should be able to judge if you want to purchase it or not.
Chris Akin
Black Sabbath – THE MOB RULES. Almost undeniably the best metal album of 1981. Dio had become fully comfortable in the band, and the writing between him and Tony Iommi was the best that it would ever be at this moment. Where HEAVEN AND HELL was a great album where people listened to see how it would sound after Ozzy, THE MOB RULES was just a Black Sabbath album, plain and simple. Classic stuff.
Def Leppard – HIGH N’ DRY. We all know that THIS band doesn’t exist anymore, but this album and it’s predecessor ON THROUGH THE NIGHT made you think that NWOBHM was going to have more than one monsterous band (Iron Maiden). Not only was HIGH N’ DRY brilliant, but it has stood the test of time. That release is as solid a listen now as it was back then. It’s amazing to think that they would become so big only two years later, and yet die almost completely in the hearts and minds of heavy metal fans within 5 years.
Iron Maiden – KILLERS. There are those who find the Bruce Dickinson era to be the best for Maiden, and there are those that think the band died almost immediately after this album was released and Paul Di’Anno left the band. Hell, I’m sure there’s someone out there that thinks that the only good era of the band was during the Blaze years, although I’m yet to meet that person. Still, there’s no denying that KILLERS was just that – a killer album from the band. Songs like “Wrathchild” have never left the setlist from the band. Regardless of which era you like the best, it’s undeniable that KILLERS was a masterpiece.
AC/DC – FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK WE SALUTE YOU. Hot on the heels of the one of the biggest albums ever released (BACK IN BLACK), FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK WE SALUTE YOU may just have been a better album overall. Songs like “Put The Finger On You” were catchy but packed a harder edge than anything on the previous effort, while other songs like “Spellbound” and “Evil Walks” just kick ass. Sadly, this album was considered a commercial flop even though it was the band’s first #1 album. Right after this album, the band went into somewhat of a tailspin releasing back to back albums that fans didn’t care for much (FLICK OF THE SWITCH, which I personally love and FLY ON THE WALL). At least in my eyes, FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK WE SALUTE YOU was the last effort they released that was a. great, and b. not formulaic.
Accept – BREAKER. It’s amazing how rock and metal history ended up being written on the strength of MTV airplay. Accept is a prime example of this. For most, especially those that weren’t around during the era, Accept history starts and stops with the BALLS TO THE WALL album. To me, that was not only not the band’s best effort, but really not one of their better albums in my opinion. To me, BREAKER was THE album for Accept. Songs like “Son Of A Bitch”, “Breaker” and “Burning” are some of the best in the band’s entire career. This band at this time was hitting on all cylinders. Udo Dirkschneider’s gravelly wail was as strong as it ever would be, while Wolf Hoffman’s guitars were absolutely seething at this point in the band’s career. They did have some great albums after this (METAL HEART, BLOOD OF THE NATIONS), and they had some stinkers (PREDATOR, EAT THE HEAT). For me though, BREAKER was the definitive album in this band’s career.
Judas Priest – POINT OF ENTRY. This is probably the most interesting album of 1981. It came on the heels of their album that is almost universally regarded as their best work (1980’s BRITISH STEEL), and just before they transitioned into a full on furious metal band a year later with SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE and DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH following back to back. In my eyes, POINT OF ENTRY was and is still unlike anything the band ever did because it features both rock and metal, hits and album tracks, and in my eyes is the only album in their career that doesn’t have a true musical theme from start to finish. While many will point to NOSTRADAMUS as their most artistic work, I would point to this one because it jumps around stylistically. It had it’s share of metal (“Heading Out To The Highway”), and it also had material that was very much uncharacteristic to what they had established with BRITISH STEEL (songs like “Turning Circles”). Still, a very cool album that almost acts as a pivot spot in the band’s career.
Ozzy Osbourne – DIARY OF A MADMAN. Much like the Accept album, DIARY OF A MADMAN came after an album that’s considered Ozzy’s best solo work (BLIZZARD OF OZZ), yet, this one just seems like a much stronger album. DIARY OF A MADMAN didn’t have the big hits that BLIZZARD did, but it did have songs that became staples of Ozzy’s career and also featured some of the best guitar work of the soon to be ended career of guitarist Randy Rhoads. Songs like “Flying High Again” are so much better than anything Ozzy did on his first solo release, while other songs like “Little Dolls” and “Believer” stand as some of the best album track songs of Ozzy’s career.
Saxon – DENIM AND LEATHER. This was a band on a roll. This was the third of three straight brilliant albums that really encapsulate all you ever really NEED to own by Saxon. To me, this might be the best of the bunch. “Princess Of The Night”, “And The Band Played On” and, of course, “Denim And Leather” all found their way to this album, which the band have always maintained they released as a tribute to their fans. Certainly, Saxon went on to record a lot of great music after this album (in fact, they really only put out one truly bad album with SOLID BALL OF ROCK), and had their share of turmoil as the band that seemingly originated the trend of having two versions of the band touring, but there’s no denying that they were as good as it got in 1981.
Whitesnake – COME AN’ GET IT. I got my first CD player in Korea. It was made by Samsung. It was a shitty CD player that skipped a lot. It didn’t have fast forward or rewind capability, and you could only skip tracks forward. If you wanted to hear a song again, you had to hit stop, then start, and then skip forward to the song you wanted. CDs were brand new at the time. Why do I remember this? I remember it because I bought 3 CDs the day I bought the player in the Korean PX in Korea. I bought Genesis – GENESIS, Yes’ BIG GENERATOR and this one, Whitesnake’s COME AN’ GET IT. I’ll admit it, that’s not the best 1-2-3 punch of music I ever purchased, but whatever…the store on base in a country 7,000 miles away at that point in time didn’t exactly have a lot of current music. I bought this one because I had seen Whitesnake with Def Leppard when I was home on leave, and really loved what I saw from them. Obviously what I got from this effort was far different from what I had seen live. COME AN’ GET IT and the following SAINTS AND SINNERS were the last of the Mach 1 efforts before they became MTV darlings and a hit machine starting with SLIDE IT IN. While a lot of people didn’t care fo this disc, it was one of the most played efforts for me in the 80s. Songs like “Wine, Women and Song” and “Hot Stuff” were great examples of that early era of Whitesnake that felt more like David Coverdale’s previous band Deep Purple than what Whitesnake would become most known for.
Venom – WELCOME TO HELL. I’ve never thought much of Venom, but I certainly appreciate the influence they had. Without them, there is no Black Metal, Death Metal or any other of the extreme variations that would develop in Heavy Metal. Certainly, WELCOME TO HELL was THE album that started it all. What has always been interesting to me is that these songs were recorded as what the band thought would be a demo, and it sounds like it. The sound is terrible on this recording – very noisy and lacking of anything that would be considered “production”. Yet, that lack of defined polish is the exact feature that would define the band. While it’s a noisy release, it just sounds evil to the point of being silly at some points. “One Thousand Days In Sodom” and the anthemic “In League With Satan” established these guys on the scene, and WELCOME TO HELL became the sampler from which every extreme band that followed would use as a roadmap to the music they would create for years to come. Unless my memory is wrong here, it would be a decade before another release would come forth that would redefine what extreme metal would be (1990’s BUTCHERED AT BIRTH by Cannibal Corpse). Still, it all started right here in 1981 with Venom.
Raven – ROCK UNTIL YOU DROP. Another of those great debuts from a band that’s actually still around today, but hasn’t done anything close to this effort since. ROCK UNTIL YOU DROP was a masterful release of thrashy heavy metal that was developing at this time. The Gallagher brothers were writing some cool tunes at the time, as well as performing them brilliantly here. Songs like “Rock Until You Drop” and “Hell Patrol” are two of the best songs the band ever recorded. While they went on to basically develop a cult following that exists to this day, they never again achieved anything close to the sound of this release.
