Search - Venom :: In League With Satan

Great Potential Ruined

Lunar Strain | United States | 11/22/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Being a bloody yank American, I am thrilled that Sanctuary/Castle is re-releasing all of the classic 1981-1985 Venom material. I'm not sure about Great Britain, but in America this stuff has been deleted for years and all that has been avaialble is tons of compilations. A new one seems to come out every year, it's ridiculous. Now us Americans can get the proper early Venom albums imported from Great Britain, thanks to Sanctuary.



I was at first very excited about this anthology, which came out in addition to the proper early albums. I was glad to finally see an ESSENTIAL compilation of all the early recordings. Popping this in, it looked like my wish came true at first. I turn on CD 1 and we get a cool tour intro, followed directly by the tracks In League With Satan and Live Like An Angel (Die Like A Devil). Then comes Welcome To Hell, a true Venom classic. Unfortunately, it is a rerecording done in the early 90s with Demolition Man on bass and vocals instead of Cronos. Witching Hour, Angel Dust, Black Metal, Buried Alive, Teacher's Pet, Countess Bathory, Die Hard, and Bursting Out also get the same treatment. This is an absolute shame. Don't get me wrong because I love The D-Man on vocals, but I believe these compilations should have the original recordings instead. I believe most of these appear on the Kissing The Beast compilation. I was prepared to go back in time from 1981 - 1985 and instead we get some re-recordings. They're all right in themselves, much tighter than the originals. That is not a good thing though, because part of the charm of original Venom was how loose they sounded. Mixing original and re-recordings gives an inconsistent feel. Another bad thing is we only get 47 seconds of Black Metal, arguably the defining Venom song. Having the re-recordings instead of the originals was bad enough, but that is just throwing salt on the wounds.



CD 2, which covers the At War With Satan and Possessed eras, is perfect. 100% Cronos era Venom. I don't think Demolition Man re-recorded these songs at all, unlike the first two albums. The best thing about this is the Nightmare single is on it. For some reason this one never appears on any of the other compilations, which is a shame because it is an excellent song.



Another nice touch added is you get radio ads and talk from the original era that takes you back to the original Venom era. This would work even better if it was mixed with all original recordings.



Well, fellow Legions, to sum it up, we have a disappointing CD 1 and a perfect CD 2. Let's hope someday the perfect Venom compilation comes out some time in the future. I keep hoping a new one will sample tracks from EVERY Venom album, including the Dolon era ones Prime Evil, Temples of Ice, and The Waste Lands, and not include any re-recordings. Unfortunately, this isn't it. This had the potential to be it, but failed with the stupid idea of throwing in those re-recordings and not warning the potential buyer."

Classic Venom collection

Brian Fischer-Giffin | Sydney, Australia | 10/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is part of the Sanctuary/Metal-Is NWOBHM collection. "In League With Satan" is a double-CD compilation featuring the most noteworthy tracks from Venom's classic first four albums: "Welcome to Hell", "Black Metal", "At War With Satan" and "Possessed". For those who are only dimly aware of how important this band was to the development of the thrash, death and black metal genres, this collection would be a perfect place to start. The tracks have been remastered from their original tapes, which is either fortunate or unfortunate, depending on your point of view: Venom was a coarse and raw band that cared little for production values! All of their best known songs are present here, and the booklet features an entertaining and comprehensive biography that will have you seeking out the original albums in no time, and wishing that you could have been there when these guys were scaring the pants off the establishment all those years ago. Recommended!"

Good compilation bad production

Washburn | ISTANBUL Turkey | 01/15/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I made the wrong decision of buying this compilation instead of the original cd's for my archive. Remastering just hasn't worked here. You should hear Venom in their raw form on the albums not compilations although the sound quality is worse on the albums. Black metal, a landmark song in heavy metal history is cut in half for some strange reason. Like I said, get the albums unless this will be your one and only Venom purchase in life."