At War with Satan

Venom were at the top of their game in 1984. They had established themselves as kings of the early extreme metal scene with a huge fan-base in both sides of the Atlantic. The critical dismissal had given its place to worldwide recognition. However, these were hard times to read for a metal band. On one hand you had the Iron Maiden, Manowar, Judas Priest brand of heavy metal and on the other hand you had the newly formed thrash movement, originated by Venom themselves. It should be noted that these were still early days for metal and for some listeners even Iron Maiden was considered “extreme”. Venom had reached a crossroads on their career. They could easily ride either direction. They chose neither.

At War with Satan contains some of the best songwriting of the band. Their sound hasn’t progressed much; it still sounds rough and unfiltered but in a way that makes the single guitar and bass work together beautifully, without the tight guitar doubletracking you would find in more elaborate productions. It appears that it was a conscious choice to remain sonically primitive, as the band retained that sound for the rest of their career. Kind of what Motorhead was about too, which happens to be Venom’s biggest inspiration.

The opening track, the 20-minute long epic At War with Satan is a wasted opportunity. There are at least 3 amazing songs crammed in here, some of the best riffs the band has written that practically go to waste in the length of the song. With Kill Em All out and Ride the Lightning around the corner, that epic song gave out the wrong message. A punk attitude was the favour of the day, not prog tendencies. I strongly feel that if they had made songs out of this mess, At War… would have been much bigger. I do remember back in the day refusing to get the album just because of that song. The B side is excellent; hell, it starts off with Rip Ride an amazing thrash tune, probably my all-time favourite Venom song, followed by an array of some of the finest Venom material ever put to tape.

Prior to At War with Satan's release Metallica were the opening act for Venom's Seven Dates of Hell tour, introducing the young American band to the European audiences. It wouldn’t take long before the youngsters would catapult themselves to heights unreachable by their former idols. Had Venom realised the importance of thrash back in 1984, they could have ridden that rocket.

Aside from all that, At War With Satan is probably Venom’s finest hour. The songwriting and execution are top-notch and the energy emitted is of a band confident in its accomplishments. Unfortunately it all went downhill from then on…