VENOM Black Metal Vinyl 1982 40th Ann. Ltd Ed.

Before Mayhem. Before Darkthrone. Before the whole Norwegian thing that got very serious very fast, there was Venom, three blokes from Newcastle who decided to name an album Black Metal and essentially hand a genre its birth certificate.

Released in 1982, this record didn't just influence black metal, it named it. The riffs are filthy, the production sounds like it was recorded inside a trash compactor, and Cronos sounds genuinely threatening in a way that most modern practitioners only cosplay at. This 40th Anniversary limited edition pressing comes on silver and black splatter vinyl, which is exactly the kind of physical object that belongs on a shelf next to your patches and your dread.

Full length album, limited edition 40th Anniversary pressing, silver/black splatter vinyl. UK origin. Genre: Black metal.

Fans of: Motörhead, Mercyful Fate, early Bathory.