Maximum Metal Rating Legend
5 Excellent - Masterpiece. A classic.
4.5-4 Great - Almost perfect records but there's probably a lacking.
3.5 Good - Most of the record is good, but there may be some filler.
3 Average - Some good songs, some bad ones at about a half/half ratio.
2.5-2 Fair - Worth a listen, but best obtained by collectors.
1.5-1 Bad - Major problems with music, lyrics, production, etc.
0 Terrible - Waste of your life and time.

Note: Reviews are graded from 0-5, anything higher or not showing is from our old style. Scores, however, do not reveal the important features. The written review that accompanies the ratings is the best source of information regarding the music on our site. Reviewing is opinionated, not a qualitative science, so scores are personal to the reviewer and could reflect anything from being technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

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The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.
Band
Venom
Title
Metal Black
Type
LP/EP
Company
Sanctuary Records
YOR
2006
Style
Black
5/28/2008 - Review by: Josh Greer

Venom
Metal Black

Company: Sanctuary Records
Release: 2006
Reviewer: Agent of Steel
Genre: Traditional
Rating
2



  • About as inspired just as much as it took time to think of the album title



  • Anyone with a modicum of fasination for the NWOBHM all should know that the later the albums, and I'm talking post '84 (with the exception of Iron Maiden but who is really counting them anyway?), generally lose any credibility the early releases may have had. Sure, bands like Virtue and Desolation Angels released some of the best and unknown NWOBHM much later than they really should have but those are the exceptions to the rule. Over 20 years after the British hard rock/heavy metal explosion that was short-lived but changed the Heavy Metal genre forever, is it even possible for a band to have any steam left in them? All foreseen pessimism aside, it doesn't take long to realize Venom "Metal Black" ain't the one.

    The songs on "Metal Black" are about as inspired just as much as it took time to think of the album title. And the immediate lack of a real riff ruins the album completely. I haven't heard this much chugging since my last bowel movement. If you were to take away the open E string notes there would only be drums and vocals and the occasional crappy solo. "Metal Black" makes Black Label Society riffs sound refreshing. The gravelly bass and buzz saw guitar tone are nice touches in the right direction of the true Venom sound but is irrelevant without any real songs to team together. Cronos still sounds like a constipated demon. Yea, that was a compliment. Remember that because there won't be many more. Too bad the grunts and groans eminating from everyone's favorite cartoon satanist consist of phrases like "the blessed dead, gonna fuck you up". Lines like that would have luckily barely made it plausible in the 80's, most definitely not in 2008 from a middle-aged band. Sure, "Darkest Realm" prechorus might get your fist ready to pound and "Lucifer Rising" guitar solo might peak anyone's interest for another classic Venom track but it's just not enough. "Blessed Dead" are some of Cronos' most uninspired lyrics and "Assassin" just might be the most lame song yet, post "At War with Satan" this dark side of the Necronomicon.

    If albums like "Metal Black" are all an influential band like Venom can conjure, this disapointed fan/reviewer will just have to stick with albums like "Black Metal" and "Welcome to Hell" for their over the top, satantic spellbound descent into hell.


    2/23/2007 - Review by: Al Kikuras
    Venom – Metal Black - 2006 - Sanctuary

    Track Listing

    1. Antechrist
    2. Burn In Hell
    3. House Of Pain
    4. Death & Dying
    5. Rege Satanas
    6. Darkest Realm
    7. A Good Day To Die
    8. Assassin
    9. Lucifer Rising
    10. Blessed Dead
    11. Hours Of Darkness
    12. Sleep When I'm Dead
    13. Maleficarum
    14. Metal Black
    I am a Venom fan. One of the “legions,” I suppose you could say. Of course, Welcome To Hell, Black Metal, At War With Satan… even Possessed. It’s a mess, granted, but what a glorious mess it is! I also really like the post-Cronos (pre-Cronos return) and much-lamented Prime Evil.

    So, Metal Black, then. I’ve heard good stuff about it. I’ve heard bad stuff about it. Personally, I love it. They are hardly batting a thousand on this one, but some of the songs are on the level with anything they have done so far… “Antechrist,” “Burn In Hell,” “House of Pain,” “Death & Dying,” “Good Day To Die,” “Assassin.” They are updated just enough with heavy production, some pinch harmonics and great drums to not sound dated, but are still so damn VENOM. Some songs, like “Regie Satanas” you’d expect to be anthems akin to “Burn In Hell” or “Warhead” (I think Venom, themselves, expected it to be an anthem) but it is a clunker, falling too hard on old tricks and a chorus just a little too Neanderthal to be effective. When Metal Black hits though, it hits like a ton of bricks. Cronos sounds as rugged and pissed off as ever. Metal Black is an album that delivers what you want from Venom in spades, and while it may not quite live up to Black Metal or Welcome to hell, it certainly comes close and is not even close to being a smear on a legacy of a band that has certainly released some forgettable (perhaps even regrettable) stuff in years past.



    --Al Kikuras Name 02.14.06



    • 2 :REVIEW COUNT
      N/A :AVE RATING

    ALL REVIEWS FOR: VENOM
    TITLE
    DOR
    COMPANY
    REVIEWER DATE MADE RATING
    Metal Black
    2006
    Sanctuary Records
    Josh Greer5/28/2008
    2
    Metal Black
    2006
    Sanctuary Records
    Al Kikuras2/23/2007
    -
    Storm the Gates
    2018
    Spinefarm
    Eric Compton12/16/2018
    3

    ALL INTERVIEWS FOR: VENOM
    INTERVIEW INTERVIEWER DATE TAGLINE


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