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Venom > Eine kleine Nachtmusik > Reviews
Venom - Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Yes!!! - 85%

Snxke, May 25th, 2004

Well folks, the double Venom LP of a lifetime. Two CD’s filled to the brim with well-recorded (yet shoddily mastered) tracks spanning the first wave of blasting Venom. This record is taken from two shows (the Hammersmith Odeon show from 1985 and the New York Ritz show from 1986) and represents Black Metal's first master-blasters quite well.

The first disc is the stronger of the two (featuring a better recording and better mastering) with it’s blasting renditions of “The 7 Gates of Hell”, “Leave me in Hell”, “Nightmare”, the classic “Countess Bathory” and a SLAYING “Die Hard”. Only the track “Too Loud for the Crowd” leaves me feeling less than unholy. Each song shows the classic Venom sound (best described as Black Sabbath meets Judas Priest's guitar wanderings meets a jackhammer being channeled through the blood gargle of Motorhead) in fine form with even drummer Abaddon holding his own with the solid and aggressive playing. (Which...can be rare for the man if you've heard enough recordings.)

Disc two has some burning moments but unfortunately features many songs that do not show the band at an artistic peak. The classic tracks such as “Black Metal” (a WRECKING ball version), “Bloodlust”, “Warhead” and “The Chanting of the Priests” all blast out like firebombs let loose in Times Square...but the remaining tracks such as “Satanachist”, “Fly Trap” and “Love Amongst the Dead” all seem to fade in comparison to the joys of disc one.

Venom live - Is that fucking fast enough for you? - 95%

Estigia666, December 5th, 2003

Yes! One just can't have enough fucking Venom! After spitting out their previous four abominations, they went and did the obligatory live album, and came out of the test brilliantly!

This slab of live blasphemy offers not one, but TWO shows: Hammersmith 1985 and New York 1986. I can't say which one is better since they both kick ass! The Hammersmith show is more dense in classics, though, incredible performances of "7 Gates of Hell" (one of the greatest Venom songs, hands down), "Leave me in Hell", "Schizo" and "Witching Hour". New York has the obligatory "Black Metal", "Welcome to Hell", "Bloodlust", "Warhead" and "The Chanting of the Priests". I know, not exactly a Venom classic, and is so incredibly cheesy (in 80s metal comparative terms) that it works in a bizarre way. Why is that? Oh I know, 'cause classic 80s heavy metal owns pretty much every single thing in the universe (give or take a few million light years).

Every song is played a lot faster than the originals, and the overall sound is great by thrash-heads standards. This means, no cristal clear bullshit production, just pure distortion, bulldozer rattling, warheads falling from the skyes, aaaarrrgghhhh....The live presence of the guys is noteworthy, this band really knew how to steal the show and prove that it's not a necessity to be kvlt enough to play no more than two shows in your entire carreer to blast some black metal into an audience. This record takes the best of the feel of classic live albums like Unleashed in the East and No Sleep 'till Hammersmith and give it a truly raw and evil twist.

Needless to say that if you like Venom you need this. Is also needless to say what I think of you if you're not a Venom fan.