Venom - Possessed

I remember buying this LP (yes, as in record) when it came out and I can also remember how much I loved it. 20+ years later and I still rank this as one of the most influential metal albums in my life.

There has always been this raging debate about whether this album sucks or not, with most people saying it does. Even guitarist Mantas has expressed displeasure with this album.

I disagree.

No, it's probably not as good as "Black Metal" or "At War With Satan," but "Possessed" has some really stellar moments which I feel are tooo often overlooked in favor of just bashing the album outright. "Satanachist" is superb, the title track is downright spooky in a lo-fi way and "Suffer Not The Children" still ranks as one of my favorite Venom anthems of all time.

Perhaps the fact that all of Venom's little children of the day - Slayer, Metallica, Exodus, Megadeth, etc. - were releasing albums at the same time as "Possessed" that Venom just couldn't keep up with. Venom was minimalist metal - their admitted lack of individual talent being made up for in collective brutality - and the aforementioned spawn were all quite technical...the metal world was shifting and Venom got lost in the shift...sadly I feel that "Possessed" was one of the great overlooked casualties in the rise of the new breed of metal.

Well, judge for yourself. This is the re-release with bonus tracks. Props to ChaosAD on Evil's Metal Vault forum for requesting this post and making me revisit one of my favorite albums of all time.

1. Powerdrive

2. Flytrap

3. Satanachrist

4. Burn This Place To The Ground

5. Harmony Dies

6. Possesed

7. Hellchild

8. Moonshine

9. Wing And A Prayer

10. Suffer Not The Children

11. Voyeur

12. Mustique

13. Too Loud (For The Crowd)

14. Nightmare (12'' Mix)

15. F.O.A.D. (12'' B-Side)

16. Warhead (12'' B-Side)

17. Possessed (Remix)

18. Witching Hour (Live)

19. Teachers Pet/ Poison/ Teachers Pet (Live)

{I killed this link because some scumbag with a blog who can't be bothered to upload his own albums pulled a cut and paste. One note: UPLOAD YOUR OWN FUCKING ALBUMS YOU LAZY DOUCHEBAG.

Motorhead LIVE!

Back in the day, during the "Operation Rock 'N Roll" our with Motorhead, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Dangerous Toys and Metal Church, I was fortunate enough to score backstage passes at Great Woods in Mansfield, Mass. I was absofuckinglutely psyched and looking forward to meeting the Priest guys, Cooper and, of course, Lemmy.

So, I go backstage and, lo and behold, no Cooper or Priest. I looked aorund in disappointment at the B-Team I was left with (no offense to Church and Toys, I loved and love ye both, but let's face it, you were no Judas Priest) and then, out of the corner of my eye I caught a welcome glimpse of Lemmy Fucking K!!! He was sitting at a table beneath an umbrella, drink and smoke in hand and was, by far, one of the nicest, most amiable folks I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I came away with no Priest or Cooper autographs, but I did (and still have) go away with a picture of myself with Lemmy.

Rock And Fucking Roll...

This is a bootleg with an odd set list from 1983 at the Sheffield University on June 9....

Enjoy.
http://rapidshare.de/files/14210389/MH-Live_In_Sheffield_1983-1.zip
http://rapidshare.de/files/14212522/MH-Live_In_Sheffield_1983-2.zip

Ronnie James Motherfucking Dio!!!!

Nobody is more metal than RJD...NOBODY. Ozzy's more Rock 'N' Roll, Rob Halford is....well, you know. Lemmy might've had a shot, but then came that unfortunate quote of his claiming that he liked Ozyy better post-Sabbath than he did whilst Ozzy was fronting Sabbath - and that's just dumb.

So, we are left with lil' ol' Dio. Even though I gave up on him sometime around 1990, Dio continues to amaze me, especially since he is humping 50 now and still has the pipes to pull off the classics...if you've heard his most recent DVD, you know of what I speak.

Anyway, I came across a good Dio boot and an audio rip (both from the 80s-era Dio) and figured they warranted a post here on the Fetus. Do enjoy.

First up is the audio rip to the Dio video (as in VHS) "A Special At The Spectrum" from 1984...the tracklist for this bad boy is:

1) Stand Up And Shout
2) Don't Talk To Strangers
3) Mystery
4) Egypt
5) Heaven And Hell
6) The Last In Line
7) Rainbow In The Dark
8) Mob Rules
9) We Rock
I killed this (see the Venom post above)

Second up is a 1983 Bootleg from Vrendenberg...the set list for this would be:
1) Intro
2) Stand Up And Shout
3) Straight Through The Heart
4) Shame On The Night
5) Children Of The Sea
6) Holy Diver
7) Drum Solo
8) Stargazer
9) Heaven And Hell
10) Guitar Solo
11) Heaven And Hell (reprise)
12) Rainbow In The Dark
13) Man On The Silver Mountain
14) Startstruck
15) Man On The Silver Mountain (reprise)
16) Evil Eyes
17) Don't Talk To Strangers

As you can see, this is right before "The Last In Line" and thusly concentrates on Dio's earlier and pre-solo materials...

I killed this (see the Venom post above)

Venom - 7th Date Of Hell

Ah...Venom. There will always be a dumb-ass debate about what band "created" what form of Metal and what band falls into what category and all that other happy horseshit. Who cares, really? No matter what your position is on any of these arguments, there can be no denying that the U.K.'s proudest Satanic sons are at the head of the class. Before they were plagued by line-up changes and general stupidity, Venom ruled the roost in my opinion. And this video (the audio rip of which is featured here,) was absolutely killer.

I'm not sure where the last two songs came from, as the video ends after "Bloodlust," I believe, but they're pretty great versions, so they stayed in my upload. Enjoy...

1 "Leave Me in Hell"
2 "Countess Bathory"
3 "Die Hard"
4 "7 Gates of Hell"
5 "Buried Alive"
6 "Don't Burn the Witch"
7 "In Nominie Satanus"
8 "Welcome to Hell"
9 "Warhead"
10 "Stand Up (And Be Counted)"
11 "Bloodlust"
12 "Witching Hour"
13 "Teacher's Pet"
http://rapidshare.de/files/12867603/7th_Date_Of_Hell_VHS_Audio-1.zip
http://rapidshare.de/files/12922789/7th_Date_Of_Hell_VHS_Audio-2.zip