Calm Before the Storm is Venom's fifth studio album and the last with Cronos before he left the band. Mantas had already gone, so Mike Hickey and Jim Clare filled in the guitar parts, and the result sounds smoother and more melodic than anything before it. Black Xmas, Metal Punk and the title track lean on tempo and chorus rather than on the ritual staging of Black Metal. The album was originally released in 1987 and recorded at the New Marquee Studios in London; its working title was Deadline, a name that survived as a track on the album. This edition is a picture disc LP.