Venom is known as a band which specialized in heavy earsplitting music, namely in black metal. Actually the band was formed in the end of the 70th Newcastle, England. At first the band was called Oberon, presented a trio, and was made of such sophisticated musicians as singer/bassist Conrad "Cronos" Lant, guitarist Jeff "Mantas" Dunn, and drummer Tony "Abaddon".
Venom’s music style is easily recognizable; it is characterized as black, dark, shadowy, mystical, loud, gloomy and negative. Venom became popular pretty soon after issuing their debut album which was called Welcome to Hell and appeared in 1981. The album was a success and received much praise being appreciated both by the musical critics and the press.
Venom’s second album presented LP; it was called Black Metal and was issued in 1982. At War with Satan, the band’s third album was issued in 1983. Possessed appeared in 1985. Live Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was issued the same year. The same year their were some changes in the band: guitarists Matt Hickey and Jimmy Clare issued their debut 1987's Calm Before the Storm.
Venom’s stuff was not permanent and every now and then the musicians left the band to make solo careers of their own, and were replaced by some other musicians. After Matt Hickey and Jimmy Clare other member of the band Cronos disbanded as well joining the two musicians. But that fact did not make any negative impact on the band.
After that Venom’s permanent member Mantas rejoined Abaddon to form a new edition of Venom with onetime Atomkraft vocalist/bassist Tony "The Demolition Risk" Dolan and guitarist Al Barnes. The new stuff started working together in 1989 issuing Prime Evil. Tear Your Soul Apart was issued in 1990, it was successful and was appreciated by the critics.
In 1991 Venom released one more successful recording called Temples of Ice. The same year one more musician, namely Barnes disbanded, he was replaced by guitarist Steve "War Maniac" White, who together with keyboardist V.X.S. was recruited in time for 1992's The Waste Lands. Mantas, Abaddon, and Dolan went on working; they gave a lot of concerts, but issued LPs.
Venom’s ex-member Cronos rejoined the band in 1996 and replaced Dolan. After that the band issued a mini-album which was called Venom '96. The album was considered to be neither bad nor good. At least it did not receive much praise of the musical critics. The band itself was not so popular as it used to be before. Made in Stone, a full-length album appeared in 1997.
Venom made a lot of concerts. In the very beginning of their career they gave concerts to support their recordings and to gain popularity. Then there was a period when the band changed its stuff and lost its popularity- for some time the band did not issued any recordings but just performed on the stage. After the band reunited, it made a world tour which was OK.
After their tour Venom released the two-disc New, Live & Rare in mid-1998. The recording was good and it was obvious that the band was gradually rising. In 1999 the band issued one more recording to support the previous one which was called Buried Alive. The Court of Death was issued in the spring of 2000 which was also not bad and was noticed by the critics.
Venom’s The Court of Death was followed by Beauty and the Beast named after a known all over the world fairy-tale. In 2006 the band celebrated their 25th anniversary with Metal Black. So the band existed for a long time. It was rather successful in the very beginning of their career, and then they were unlucky, but soon resurfaced with more releases.
