"Black Metal"

Venom - "Black Metal" (1982)

Ever wondered where the term 'Black Metal' came from? Now you know.



This song isn't actually what would be considered Black Metal today. You can understand what he is saying, which is not accepted in modern Black Metal. The guitar solo is also no where near fast enough. The guitar work in this song is fast, but not blindingly fast. Also, the drums are just standard rock drum beat at a fast tempo. Later Black Metal would use double and triple time bass drum kicks. This song is early Thrash Metal, but the name was so evocative it got used as a genre down the road. Lyrically the song does mention Satan and 'the gods of black metal', which is kind of lyrically in the Black Metal wheelhouse, but honestly the fact that the average listener can understand vocalist and bassist Cronos means that no one would consider it Black Metal today. The whole album Black Metal that it is on is considered influential on Thrash Metal, Death Metal and Black Metal, and in a way, Garage, because the technical quality of the musicians and the recording is not good. That opening noise is a chainsaw cutting metal, and they meant it to be there. The did put on a heck of a show though, with big hair, chains and spandex. But no makeup, they weren't Hair Metal, they were defining a new genre and a generation of modern extreme metal fans know that they were pioneers.