Review by Saxy S for Venom - Welcome to Hell (1981)

What do you get when you cross New Wave of British Heavy Metal, early Motörhead adjacent speed metal, and the original hardcore punk scene of the 1980s? Well you probably end up with a band like Venom and their legendary debut record Welcome to Hell. 

Now for an initial playthrough, that might seem like a lot to digest. But Venom are not only able to pull off the best elements of each playbook with fluidity, but they also managed to create an album that has stood the test of time remarkably well! To be completely honest, I had never listened to this album in its entirety prior to writing this review, but I immediately recognized some of these tunes as soon as they began playing, without being aware that they were Venom songs. That is a true testament to this bands legacy.

Of the three branching genres that I could recognize while listening to this record, NWOBHM is the tag that I would attest to this album the least. In contrast to other artists who were releasing similar sounding music around the same time, Venom were far more crunchy than their contemporaries. The riffage on "Welcome To Hell", "Poison", "One Thousand Days of Sodom" and "In League with Satan" is unlike anything you would expect to hear on those early Iron Maiden and Diamond Head records. The vocal timbre is less power metal and more thrash, the riffs are faster and more distorted, the hooks are less anthemic, but somehow resonate just as effectively. Perhaps the tag of Speed Metal would make more sense.

But I hear a lot more distortion and alienation from Venom than a group like Deep Purple or Motörhead. No, the genre that I tagged Venom as was Original Hardcore Punk. While bands like the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag and Bad Brains were gaining attention in the United States, Venom were taking that sound and implementing it over these NWOBHM/Speed Metal compositions and it sounded phenomenal. The albums starts with "Sons of Satan" and while the hooks might not be there, the fast tempos are. The distorted riffs are very powerful, and anchored by some very solid bass, while the vocals is howl-singing, like you would hear in Black Flag or Bad Brains.

But what separates Welcome to Hell from other Hardcore Punk albums of the eighties is its forward thinking. While you might not hear it initially, Venom were stoking the flame for a new generation of metal. One that took it to the extreme, literally. "Witching Hour" and "Red Light Fever" are the basic foundations of black metal with its tremolo riffs, relentless percussion groove and howled vocals. Throw on top of that all of the Satanic imagery and scattered atonal soundscapes found throughout the project and you'll find a lot of appreciate here.

Upon listening to Welcome to Hell, I quickly realized how much gross influence this album has had within heavy metal, as well as how wide of a range its intended audience is meant to be. Is it Speed Metal? Is it Hardcore Punk? Is it Black Metal (no it isn't, but the recurrent themes do bring an interesting point)? No matter what angle you view this album from, Venom's debut record is one for the ages.