I normally don’t like reviewing albums in MP3 format, but
\nsometimes that’s the only way I can get my filthy hands on an
\nout-of-print disc without paying through the nose for a well-worn
\ncopy. Such is the case with
\nWelcome To Hell<\/i>, the 1981 debut release from British
\nheadbangers Venom. (Memo to my friends at Spitfire:
\nPlease<\/i>, find a way to get this band’s early discs reissued
\nsoon!)<\/p>\n
Oh, sure, these days the sound might be laughable, and some of
\nthe things that Venom spews might seem sophomoric compared to other
\nbands with a demonic edge. But back in ’81, this trio was
\nconsidered shocking, not only for their sound, but because they
\nwere – egads! – promoting Satanism in their lyrics. (Whether or not
\nthese guys believe this stuff in real life, I don’t know – but if
\nyour kid is “influenced” by this kind of music, you need to be
\nlocked away for raising your kid to be a spineless sponge.)<\/p>\n
Production-wise,
\nWelcome To Hell<\/i> is lacking – though you have to take things
\nwith a grain of salt and realize that Venom – Cronos, Mantas and
\nAbbadon – were part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and
\nthey had gotten in on the ground floor. There aren’t many
\nspine-chilling guitar solos, and often it’s damn near impossible to
\ndecipher these lyrics.<\/p>\n
But there is something to
\nWelcome To Hell<\/i> that makes the listener think that there
\njust might be something to this band. Tracks like “Sons Of Satan,”
\n“Red Light Fever” and the title track, while no masterpieces in the
\ngenre, do suggest that greater things would be coming from this
\ngroup. Further evidence of this is heard on “In League With Satan,”
\nwhich succeeds in its minimalistic style. There’s even suggestions
\nof musicianship, as heard on the musical aside “Mayhem With
\nMercy”.<\/p>\n
Yet
\nWelcome To Hell<\/i> shows that more work needed to be done.
\nTracks like “Schizo” and “Poison” don’t suggest that Venom would
\nbecome one of the most notable (if not infamous) bands from this
\npoint in British metal history, and they don’t do terribly much for
\nthe listener.<\/p>\n
These days, if you come across a CD copy of
\nWelcome To Hell<\/i>, you might see a price tag of about $20 for
\na used copy. That’s a bit much, I’m afraid – though if this disc
\ncame out tomorrow at a budget price of $10, I’d gladly snag a copy
\n(along with the other early albums of Venom’s career – which I’ve
\nalso got in MP3). It’s an interesting, if flawed, picture of a
\nband’s birth cries (or would that be screams in Venom’s case?), and
\nis still worth checking out… just not at inflated prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6429],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-36944","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-venom","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36944"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36944"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}