Venom was always a very active band within the heavy metal scene. Although their limited technical skills didn't allow them to become "faces" of the early genre like Bathory, Helgrind, Darkthrone or Mayhem, they were still considered a pioneer - in their own way - and in fact influenced Euronymous, of the aforementioned Mayhem, to a great extent.
And while some bands held Venom in disdain, calling them amateurish or even poseurs (see the famous Ihsahn interview), it's clear as day that the early style and imagery of Mayhem - perhaps the most important black metal band ever, alongside Burzum - was directly influenced by the early days of Venom... "Welcome to Hell" and "Black Metal", as well as the follow-up "War of Satan".
But how did Venom adapt to the "new era" of black metal? Now that they aren't the new band anymore, but rather the "boomer band" of the genre. Going from a Motörhead cover band all the way to influencing one of the largest heavy metal subgenres in black metal, the history of Venom is one of controversy and drama... but also some very interesting trivia.
"We Played MOTÖRHEAD Three Times as Fast"
In a recent interview with Antoine Grand, for the best selling book "Real Satanic Black Metal: The Truth About Evil Worship in Extreme Metal", Venom vocalist Cronos and guitarist Rage sit down to discuss the events that led up to the formation of Venom in 1979.
The results are interesting, to say the least.
Cronos: We'd went under all the names, and all the places... and we weren't able to rehearse anywhere in Newcastle anymore, because we used to set up the pyrotechniques in the rehearsal and blow the f[-]ckin' places up, so we kept changing names and then stuck with VENOM!Rage: We'd cover many bands, especially MOTÖRHEAD. [...] When most other bands would cover their inspirations in a similar way as they played, we would intentionally play MOTÖRHEAD songs three times as fast. That's where the VENOM sound came from.
Cronos:Yeah. 'No Class' by MOTÖRHEAD is the one we'd cover the most. We used lo play them at such velocity that it wasn't... you know, it was different than the originals, which was always sort of strange.
While you can survive being "raw" or "lo-fi" in black metal - see the war metal genre that thrives on exactly that -, the accusation of playing "sloppy" - one that followed Venom throughout their career - is much harder to survive. But increasingly, a newer generation of metalheads are giving Venom their chance... nearly half a century after the release of their debut.
"We've always been interested in the Occult..."
When speaking of the early days of black metal, one question that comes up over and over again is that of "devil worship" and "Satanism". Many bands have denounced that rumour as a "media fabrication" - see the movie Lords of Chaos -, with Satyricon's Satyr even claiming that the entire "devil worship" drama came from one singular journalist working for the Bergen Times.
Naturally, Cronos and Rage were asked about it as well.
Cronos: I've always been interested in the occult, but we're entertainers, and we used subjects like Satanism and paganism to entertain people, like horror movies do. Listening to a VENOM album is the same thing as watching an EVIL DEAD movie.
While there are some bands that embraced what is know as "theistic Satanism" (or orthodox Satanism), it is mostly the clown act centered around Jon Nödtveidt's Dissection, which ceased to exist in 2008. None of the original black metal bands had any relation with them whatsoever.
"Terminal Satan is the best VENOM album..."
The interview then moves on to VENOM's latest release, "Terminal Satan", and its critical acclaim. Some praised the improve musicianship, while others were puzzled by the departure of long-time Venom members Jeffrey "Mantas" Dunn and Anthony "Abaddon" Bray who were kicked out of the band due to substance abuse, and formed their own band "Venom, Inc".
Rage: 'Terminal Satan' is the best VENOM album we ever released period. People get the idea that since the lineup changed a bit, it's not the same band anymore. But if you look back at the 80s, the lineups were changing all the time even then.Cronos: When we first started playing we were constantly kicking people out. After that we had various line-up changes, we were always throwing people out... When we were supposed to do our first gig in 1981, the bass player didn't turn up, so I grabbed his bass and just went for it.
The last question of the interview is about the early Norwegian black metal scene, which was said to be "inspired by Venom" by Euronymous - something that other black metal artists dispute, pointing towards bands like Helgrind and Bathory instead.
Cronos: It's one of the things when I first saw when I saw the Norwegian scene beginning in the early nineties. I thought: ok, I know they said Venom are an influence, etcetera, etcetera... let's see where these guys are coming from. And then when I started to read the lyrics, read the interviews and see they were kind of saying the same thing, but about their country, they had their religion, with all the Norse gods like Wodan and Thor. [...] It was great!
While the consensus on Venom remains that they are mostly a NWOBHM band with some proto-underground metal tendencies, much like their primary influence Motörhead, many people still see them as black metal, likely due to the "Black Metal" album they released. I guess it's the same reason many people see Chuck Schuldiner as the "godfather" of death metal, when he didn't even like most death metal bands.
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