Much like Welcome to Hell, Black Metal also maintains a very unpolished and underproduced sound due to the label's time constrains as well as Lant's desire to get the "heaviest sound I could get" on tape. The album's tracks have been described as being composed of "speed, catchy speed, rhythmic explosions and cutting riffs", as well as being characterized by "a rough low-budget production like a gig in the cellar". The album was recorded in just 7 days, with Lant working long hours recording alongside the studio engineer and then mixing the tracks on his own. Lant thought it would be interesting to put a teaser at the end of the record as a warning to fans of what was to come. A concept album that Lant started working on originally when he was still in school that tells the story of the battle between Heaven and Hell and with the latter coming out on top. The final track on the album is a preview of the title track for what was to be the band's third album, At War with Satan. The opening riff would then purportedly go on to influence the main riff of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Lant also explained the origin of the song's opening riff, saying that it was inspired by the opening theme song of the children's show The Magic Roundabout. The band's roadie came in the room and began drumming for them, and soon after "Abaddon" would come in and tried to make up a new drum pattern, but Lant and Dunn felt the roadie's drum pattern worked best. Another song on the album, " Countess Bathory", was written when "Abaddon" was late for a session, so Dunn began jamming some new riffs while Lant would work the lyrics out. In the process, Lant stated that all of the saw's teeth broke in trying to achieve this effect. The title track, an ode to the extreme metal genre, opens with the sounds of a chainsaw which the band created by clamping down some large steel plates and then brought in a real chainsaw into the studio which they used on the steel plates to create the sawing sound effect. So they decided to bring in a cardboard box and mud, then put microphones in the box and used spades to shovel the mud into the box onto the microphones. For the intro of song, the band was looking to mimic the sound of earth being shovelled onto a coffin during a burial service while a priest delivers a prayer, but they failed to capture the sound they were looking for by cutting cabbages. With Lant's experience in the studio he took a very hands on approach with recording "Buried Alive". The band decided to rework these two songs with the final recording having "Buried Alive" extended and the ending transitioning into "Raise the Dead". "Buried Alive" was originally less than a minute long, and the remainder of what would be the rest of the song was used as the first half of "Raise the Dead" but with different lyrics.
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Early versions of these songs can be heard on the band's 1979 Church Hall rehearsals recording, with original vocalist Clive Archer.
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Two of the songs on the album, "Buried Alive" and Raise the Dead", were written in the late 1970s and were originally intended to be on the band's debut album, however the band felt that they were unable to do the songs justice at the time of those demo recordings.
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Writing and recording Īs with most of Venom's early material, much of the writing was left to Lant and Dunn. With vocalist and bassist Conrad "Cronos" Lant having gained more experience in the studio as an engineer, as well as the band developing a better understanding of their identity allowed Venom to better sense what they were looking to accomplish in the studio.
#Black metal albums series
With the band having built a strong fan base in Europe following a series of successful shows, Venom would return to the studio to record their follow up sophomore effort. After the release and general positive reception to the band's debut album, Venom had established themselves as pariahs of the metal world.