Venom recorded their debut in 1981 on a budget that barely stretched past a demo, and that roughness became the trademark: distortion pushed well past the limit, drums running ahead of everything else and Cronos shouting rather than singing. Welcome to Hell set a tone the New Wave of British Heavy Metal had not heard before, through In League With Satan, Witching Hour and Angel Dust. The satanic staging was largely theatre, but the influence stuck: Norwegian band Mayhem took their name from the track Mayhem With Mercy. The album originally appeared on Neat Records, the label of the Wallsend studio where Cronos himself worked. This edition is an LP.