Venom Live!

Venom
House Of Blues, Chicago
Sunday, September 3, 2006

If you were to judge the capacity of Venom’s show solely by the line gathered outside of House Of Blues Sunday night, the guess would be sold out. After all, at 8:00 (15 minutes prior to show time) it stretched from HOB’s doors all the way down Dearborn Avenue.

That’s why it was so surprising when the night’s sole opener, Goatwhore, took the stage only a handful of fans stood in front of the stage. Even more surprising was the fact the floor didn’t fill (only two security guards working the stage of a metal show?) by the time Venom came on at 9:00. Maybe it was the fact the show had been rescheduled (moved from late August), or maybe people just had Labor Day Weekend plans.

But Satan doesn’t give a damn about Labor Day, therefore neither do Venom.

Still spreading the word of the Dark Lord some 25 years after their start in Newcastle, England, Venom torched their way through a brief, but thoroughly sinister, 50-minute set that included a mixture of “hits” and material from the band’s most recent release, Metal Black (Sanctuary). Though bassist/frontman Cronos is the only member left from the original lineup, umpteenth members Antton (drums) and Mykvs (guitar) were well-rehearsed in the Venom formula, giving “Welcome To Hell” and “Seven Gates Of Hell” that sound old-school metalheads treasure.

Venom have always had the reputation of being a good bad band, never praised for technical excellence. But, they coined the term “Black Metal” with a 1982 album of the same name (and whose title track they inexplicably led off their set with instead of using to finish the night) and were one of the first acts to really zero in on the whole macabre Satanic angle, consequently serving as huge influences to the likes of Metallica and Slayer. So no matter how sloppy “Bloodlust,” “Witching Hour,” and “Warhead” were, seeing Cronos and co. sneer and snarl through the songs, songs that defined metal as evil music, was definitely worth the price of admission. Plus, tunes from Metal Black like “Antechrist” stood up surprisingly well to the older material. The title track even provided inspiration for the funniest moment of the night when Mykvs introduced the song by saying Venom would call their next album *To Hell Welcome, joking about the band’s not-so-creative new album title.

After finishing “Countess Bathory” Cronos asked the crowd how many people had ever seen Venom before saying, “You know what real metal is, and you know what selling out is.” The statement was both a compliment to the small-but-boisterous crowd and a pat on his own back because for 25 years, through the peaks and valleys, popularity and insignificance, Venom has always been Venom. The members have changed, the hairlines have receded, and the fanbase has dwindled, but Venom will never run out of songs about hell and Satan, and for that they deserve a hearty salute.

– Trevor Fisher

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly