Venom

Venom formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1979 and, from their debut Welcome to Hell (1981) onwards, played faster, rawer and louder than the rest of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon built out their satanic imagery in songs like In League With Satan, Witching Hour and Countess Bathory, and the title of their second album, Black Metal (1982), gave an entire genre its name. At War with Satan followed, with a title track running close to twenty minutes, then Possessed and Calm Before the Storm, and from Prime Evil (1989) Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan took over from Cronos for several years. Norwegian band Mayhem took their name from a track on the debut. Into Oblivion, the sixteenth studio album, arrived in 2026.

This collection brings together Venom on vinyl, LP and CD: the early classics, the live recordings from the Hammersmith Odeon, the Assault EPs and compilations from the Neat years.