Venom - the group that created Black Metal

The legendary group from Newcastle was formed in the late 70's. Musicians from completely different collectives came together to create a completely new group, which was named Venom. The group consisted of 5 people: Dave Rutherford and Jeffrey Dunn played guitars, Dean Hewitt became a bass player, Chris Mercakers took the position of drummer, and the vocalist was Dave Blackman.

Becoming a Venom Group

Unfortunately, at early stages of existence the group underwent constant changes in the composition. So, some time after the founding of the band Venom left drummer Chris and vocalist Dave, who were replaced by Clive Archer on bass and Tony Bray on vocals. However, this did not end the permutations in the composition of Venom. The group also said goodbye to bassist Hewitt, replacing him with Alan Winston, and also refused guitarist Rutterford, taking in his place Context Lanta. Winston stayed in the team for a short time, and after he left on the bass guitar Lant began to play. Thus Venom became a quartet.

First of all, the musicians decided to take their stage names, and the more infernal, the better. Thus, the bass player Archer turned into Jesus , the guitarist Lant became Kronos , the vocalist and frontman Bray took the name of Abbadon , and the second guitarist Dunn called Mantas . 1980 was marked by the recording of the first demo band, and one of the songs was performed by Lant. Soon after, the band said goodbye to Archer, and Venom turned into a trio, as we all know him.

Early Creativity Venom

A year after the release of the demo, the band signed a contract with the studio Neat Records and released their first single titled In Leage with Satan. Then followed the first full-length plate of the band Venom. The album was called Welcome to Hell and was written under the influence of the giants of the metal scene, the band Motorhead. The album is full of devilish, dark and satanic images, and this idea became for the fateful band. The second and, perhaps, the most significant album of the band was called Black Metal, and on the cover of it there were a goat's face and a pentagram.

The record was the first step on the way to the glory of Venom. The band played a frank thrash, but the satanic lyrics served as inspiration for thousands of fans of the new genre - black metal. The band's third album was called At War with Satan, and it was he who brought Venom world fame and the opportunity to perform at the largest and most prestigious venues in the world.

The crisis in Venom

The first problems in the band began after the release of the fourth album Possessed. Mainly, the trouble was the departure of Mantas for health reasons. The loss had to be filled at once by two musicians: Jimmy Clare and Mike Hickey. However, the problems did not end here either. In 1987, Kronos decided to leave the band for his own solo project, which he called his own name. Two new musicians of the band Kronos took with them.

It would seem that now can interfere with the creativity of Venom? The songs of the band still love and appreciate the whole world of metal, for example, Black Metal, which was covered by cover bands by many bands, including the famous Dimmu Borgir, Calm Before the Storm and others. In addition, Mantos soon recovered and returned to the team.

Mature creativity of Venom

So, after Mantos returned, things in the group went smoothly. New musicians, taken instead of Kronos and two guitarists, fit well in the band: Ton Dolan became a bass player and a vocalist, and Al Barnes took over the guitar. It was this composition that recorded the new album Venom. The group, it would seem, became stable, and nothing foreshadowed change. The album was called Prime Evil, the producers were Nick Tauber and Kevin Ridley. They also worked on the famous Calm Before the Storm.

Without any changes in the composition of the band recorded a few more albums, but in 1991 the band left Barnes. At this stage, you can note the gradual fading of the group. To record the next record Venom attracted session musicians and entered keyboards. However, after recording the record, the band again became a trio. For a long time Venom left the studio and was engaged exclusively in tours. Since 2004, the group has started to give signs of life and exists to this day.

During his career, the band released 14 studio albums, the last of which, under the name From the Very Depths, was released in 2015.