Album review : VENOM – Blackened Priests (3 CD Boxset)

Dissonance [Release date 27.06.25]

CD1: Prime Evil 1989
CD2: Temple Of Ice 1991 (plus EP Tear Your Soul)
CD3: Waste Land 1992

Formed in England’s industrial North East in 1979, there was none heavier, none more extreme and indeed none more influential in the heavy metal genre than Venom.

The band’s reputation was born out of the brutality and intensity of their sound, released from its cage on the debut album, Welcome To Hell, in 1981.

By 1988, the overworked Revolving Door of Band Membership had changed Venom’s original line up completely.
Wiki needs a separate page to list former members.

A solid mix of old and new recorded the three albums in this set (their 6th, 7th and 8th): originals Abaddon and Mantas (both from North Shields), Al Barnes and Tony Dolan, ex Atomcraft, on vocals.

The Lynx Studio team in Newcastle, Nick Tauber and Kevin Ridley, produced. They’d already shown their skill at the console with Anathema and Tygers Of Pan Tang. They gave Prime Evil a huge sound, front to back, side to side.

The album is a heavy metal feast of monster riffs, slick backed solos and lyrical provocation (fully realised through Dolan’s angry, animated vocals). The title track stands out, alongside the thrashy ‘Blackened Are The Priests’ and ‘Parasite’.

The album has been expanded here to 17 tracks by the inclusion of the Tear Your Soul EP, first released in 1990.

The undervalued Temples Of Ice is a welcome addition.
On only the second album with this line up, it’s clear that there’s a musical chemistry between them that ignites some well thought out Thrash/Black Metal material.
There are melodies, there is great bass guitar playing, there is a meticulousness, with lots of purpose underpinning the songs, there are no wasted moments.
‘Speedking’ and ‘Tribes’ stand out.

While many critics were waiting for the band to fail, Venom set about demolishing any doubts in the minds of their fans.

And although the band’s following dwindled for a while, the chainsaw axework cut through the gloom on Waste Lands, as Dolan gave voice to the dark and the dead on standouts, ‘Cursed’, ‘Kissing The Beast’ and ‘Need To Kill’, winning over old fans and gaining new.

Great to see these 3 albums (and EP) packaged together like this. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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