Venom: At War With Satan (gold vinyl) [BMG]

Why you'll love it

This gold vinyl reissue comes in a gatefold jacket and is pressed in Germany. Melody Maker called it "proof positive that Venom are the best heavy metal band in the world."

This edition

• Gold vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

Cronos started writing the story at school: Hell rises up, storms the gates of Heaven and wins. Years later the Newcastle trio's bassist and singer turned it into a twenty-minute title track that fills the whole of side one, an idea he credits to Rush's 2112. It borrows its imagery from the Book of Revelation and Paradise Lost, filtered through 80s horror films and pulp paperbacks.

Drummer Abaddon even gets the starring role, the guardian of Hell's gates sharing his name. Side two goes back to the short, sharp scorchers Venom were known for. "Rip Ride" and "Genocide" fly by, "Cry Wolf" showed critics how much the songwriting had grown, and "Stand Up (And Be Counted)" is a fist-in-the-air call to arms. AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia reckoned the closer, "Aaaaaarrghh," was possibly the funniest song ever recorded.

Two months before it came out, a young Metallica opened for Venom on their Seven Dates of Hell tour, their first in Europe. The original sleeve was designed to look like a leather-bound book, which is the closest most metal albums get to a library.

Also at Kops: more Venom on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Neat / BMG (cat# BMG 964255171), a reissue of the 1984 album.