“I had to watch it 3 or 4 times to finally get there…”

Ahhh, the 80’s. A time when people could actually afford to live, back when Taco Bell was both super cheap and equally delicious, horror movies were genuinely scary and often boasted incredibly “special” special effects, and terrified parents everywhere were completely “freaking the motherfrickin’ frick out” over heavy metal and the ensuing “Satanic Panic” that followed. (Remember, we’re talking about the 80’s here…)

“I kinda feel like Satan probably listens to Air Supply nonstop…or Gino Vanelli…”

Not to worry though, because Tipper Gore was on the case, going out of her way to ensure that the future prosperity of heavy metal would be secure forever with the PMRC seal of approval (PARENTAL ADVISORY – EXPLICIT CONTENT) plastered on the cover of everything that would be deemed essential listening.

Thanks to the diligent efforts and painstaking research of Tipper Gore and her Parents Music Resource Center, the PMRC lovingly crafted “The Filthy Fifteen” for American parents to ensure that their children would only be exposed to the finest audio artistry the heavy metal genre (and somehow, also Satan) had to offer.  One of the bands included on that fateful list were the founders of black metal, VENOM (ironically, rated “O” … for “Obviously” …as in “Obviously, your kids should be listening to this!”). 

Hailing from probably the fanciest, most upper crust sounding city in all of England, Newcastle upon Tyne’s 3-piece of evil VENOM came blasting out of the gates of hell with what would become the foundation for the black metal genre that would begin its ascent into heavy metal culture around the same time as thrash metal in the early 80’s, with a sound combining the rawness of Motorhead, the darkness of Sabbath, and the speed of thrash with an imagery reminiscent of KISS if they were actually satanists. 

If Black Sabbath are ground zero for the formation of heavy metal as we know it, then VENOM is no doubt the Black Sabbath of the black metal genre. With a dark, detached creepiness that sounds like something recorded in an underground mausoleum, VENOM are the originators of extreme metal and were out in front, scaring the hell out of parents everywhere and delighting young and impressionable metalheads the world over.

Happy Halloween everyone!!! It’s time to celebrate spooky season the way we did back in the 80’s, by going through your kids trick-or-treat plunder and picking out all of that “good candy”. Prepare yourself for the latest outtake from The Angry Matt Podcast regarding the abolition of Daylight Savings Time, discover why “fist bumps and fisting are basically the same thing”, learn what “post mortis” actually means, and JOIN US for an “exploratory learning journey” as we go INSIDE THE METAL and review THE 80’s output of black metal pioneers VENOM.

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Show Notes:

(00:01): “It’s not a girl drink…” (Apperall spritz?) / #buttocks / “How about the J and then the PB?”/ “That’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’ isn’t it?” / #thatdudeisadude / “It’s like a reverse sixty-nine, dude…don’t make it weird…”/ ***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised ***/ “That way is better…”/ ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST!!!*** / #LikeShareSubscribe / “It’s approaching dusk at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday…

when can we just not do Daylight Savings Time anymore?” / #AngryMattPodcast / ***You SOCIAL MEDIA US at #YouTube #TikTok #Facebook #Instagram at #metalnerderypodcast, EMAIL US at [email protected], PATREON US at www.patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast for exclusive video only content.*** / #PatreonShoutout / ***YOU CAN PURCH SOME MERCH AT www.metalnerdery.com/merch *** 

(7:26): #TheDocket / METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: VENOM – INSIDE THE METAL (THE 80’S) / “Since it’s #Halloween season…”/ One of the biggest influences on thrash metal, especially #TheBigFour / Everyone was freaking out, the Satanic Panic / #RussellsCassetteReflections / #attache / “See? Everybody’s got a blessing to share…even if they’re a shitty person…”/ “How was it silly?” / “There’s a certain weird, dark, creepy, bizarreness…it’s like the feeling of being buried (alive)…” / #stereobreathing / Fist bumps and fisting are the same thing… / #SlayerOfTheEpisode / #Slayer WITCHING HOUR / “Oh, Robb Flynn’s singing…” (from #MachineHead) / 

(13:45): “What Venom means to me…” / #RussellsVenomReflections / #EpisodeIdea / 

“Their logo is creepy…I don’t know why it’s creepy…” / “Do you remember the movie: 

The Gate? (1987)” / #backmasking (“I don’t know if it was a #Venom record…) 

(17:11): Welcome To Hell (1981) / “He’s kinda the sound…(of Venom)” / #Cronos / 

“That’s the French gay Baphomet…” / 1981…other big albums from that time relative to Venom / “We’re on an exploratory learning journey here…”/ #Cockopolis / #killeropener / #postmortis / “Dude, you created a new word…”/ SONS OF SATAN / “The #Motorhead of black metal…” / WELCOME TO HELL (see also #MotleyCrue and ‘Looks That Kill’) / “How can we sound like Motorhead but rawer?”/ WITCHING HOUR / “The rain sounds creepy…”/

“Listen to that through headphones because that is really, really strange…”/ IN LEAGUE WITH SATAN / “This is the epitome of bad production…”/ “Backmasking is for the weak…”/ #backmaskingASMR / “I wanna know what that says now, backwards…” 

(28:26): Black Metal (1982) / “If #BlackSabbath are the founders of metal, then Venom are the Black Sabbath of black metal…”/ ***Check out our other Halloween specials…***/ 

BLACK METAL / “Sounds like soundcheck at The Masquerade…the Old Masquerade…”/ 

BURIED ALIVE / “It sounds familiar for a different reason…” / #fakenews / “Have you ever seen Hostel 2?” / #ElizabethBathory / “I had to watch it 3 or 4 times to finally get there…” / 

COUNTESS BATHORY / “Hey, I got a chorus pedal man…check it out!”/ “I just had a realization…I can kinda hear how Cronos influenced Mustaine’s singing style…” / DON’T BURN THE WITCH / “It’s like they’re recording underground, in a mausoleum or something…” / “This album probably costs hundreds of dollars to produce…” / “So far that might be their most complex riff…”

(37:51): At War With Satan (1984) / “I kinda feel like Satan probably listens to Air Supply nonstop…oooh, Gino Vannelli…” / Backstory regarding the epic title track / “This is like their Hemispheres basically…or their 2112…” / AT WAR WITH SATAN  / “The production’s better…they probably spent $800 on this one…” / “I can hear the Mustaine now…kinda like ‘The Conjuring’ in a way…” / “Let’s skip to the middle…” / CRY WOLF / AAAAAARRGHH / 

“What the fuck is that? Hey Alex…”/ #LOL / “This is the Venom version of ‘What’s That Noise?’…” / “Is that piano?” / “This might be my favorite Venom song ever…”

(46:19): Possessed (1985) / Released April Fools Day, 1985 / “Of course it’s gonna piss off the #PMRC…” / “Sorry, I cupped on that one…”/ “There’s a lot of #cokelines…”/ POWERDRIVE / “Sounds like #TheAccused…” / “That reminds me of WREKage…” / BURN THIS PLACE (TO THE GROUND) / “This one might have cost $900…” / “They’re no longer the influential band…now they’re competing with the bands they basically influenced…” / 

POSSESSED / “Keyboards…oooh, chimes!” / “I can literally see them playing at #Sweetwater to 5 people…”/ “Their whole thing was all about shock, obviously…”/ “If you don’t have the talent, you have to have the show…kinda like the #KISS analogy…”

(54:40): Calm Before The Storm (1987) / NOTE:  this is STILL with Cronos… #ConradIsCronos #CronosIsConrad / “Abaddon is like the John Wick of Hell…”/ BLACK XMAS / “Way better production!” / “They might have spent an actual $1000 on this…”/ “That’s definitely the best produced album thus far…less Satan…”/ METAL PUNK / “Is that a drum machine or actually bass drums?” / KRACKIN’ UP (with a ‘K’) / “They got away from the Satan thing…” 

(59:55): Prime Evil (1989) / First album with Tony Dolan (aka Demolition Man) / “Oooh, 2 producers…I’ll bet they spent $1200 on this…”/ PRIME EVIL / “They might have spent $2000 on this, dude…”/ “It’s almost like early heavy metal…but it’s way too late…” / “Oh boy…buckle up…”/ MEGALOMANIA (***See also Sabotage***) / “Sting me…” 

(1:05:00): “For fun, can we play the #Probot song?” / Probot (2004) / CENTURIES OF SIN (featuring Cronos) / “It’s amazing what a little production will do…”/ “Now is the time to ask questions of faith…”/ “Whaddya mean? He’s ’95 to Present…”/ #recordscratch / “I just wanted to know where the “Venom Inc.” lore came from…” / “It’s like #Queensryche…”/ #spinoff / “It’s like if #Metallica had their logo in bubble letters…” / “Go out there, get all that special candy that your kids get that you’re scared for them to have…send it to US!” / THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!!  / #creepylaugh / #untilthenext #outroreel