venom

The history of metal cant be discussed without mentioning Venom, another English band hailing from Newcastle during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the early 1980's. Venom can be considered as one of the early thrash metal bands who although never became commercially successful would go on to inspire many of the big names including Metallica (who opened for them on an early 80's tour), Slayer and Anthrax.
As well as helping define the sound of thrash metal, Venom lay down the blueprints and named an entire sub-genre of metal on their own following the release of their second album Black Metal in 1982. Although still considered a thrash metal album its lyrics and imagery were a major influence on the early black metal scene and the album itself is considered a classic in the heritage of metal.

After many lineup changes a split and reformation, Venom are continuing to release records and tour,most recently being one of the headliners at Germany's Bang Your Head festival in July. Here is Venom playing the title track from their first album, Welcome to Hell