Venom
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
[Deadline]
Venom, like Motorhead and Sodom, are not a band that translate well to disc from a live performance. The main problem is that they tend to play so fucking loud that it all ends up becoming a huge wall of sound. That's not to say you cant distinguish one instrument from another on this CD - that's quite easily done...but because there's *so* much sound, everything sounds very condensed and compact, with no room for each instrument to "breathe". Another major fault with this album is the constant fade-in and fade-outs on the majority of tracks - I realize this was necessary to capture the best individual performances of each of the songs over the 3 dates this was recorded, but it takes away a great deal from the "live" feel of it all. Lastly, I'm also not too found of the general production/mixing job on this - there's far too much mid-range in the sound which ends up robbing the band of a lot of power in my opinion....
Now, with all that out of the way : this is still a fucking great CD. Why ? Because it captures one of the true giants of black metal back during their hey-dey...well, not quite their "hey-day", but as I'm not aware of any (official) full length live recordings of Venom before "At War With Satan", this is the closest you can get to hearing the band at their peak. 72 minutes spread out over 18 songs (not counting the intro or the two (bass and guitar) solos) which covers everything from "Welcome To Hell" to the bands last album together (before the re-formation that is) "Possessed", plus a few "new" tracks that would eventually end up on the "Calm Before The Storm" album. Aside from the minor inconveniences I mentioned in the first paragraph of this review, this CD is a sheer joy to behold, and Venom really cranked it out during these three gigs back in 1985/86. The packaging on this particular re-release is also excellent, with fully restored artwork and credits (not that there was much in the way of linear notes to begin with really). One small complaint is that they could have easily fit all of this onto a single CD reducing the price considerably - the band might intend for this to be sold at a "single CD" price, but we all known how unscrupulous retailers can be when it comes to this sort of thing.
Bottom line - pick this up if you're a Venom fan and don't already own it in one of it's many previous incarnations. If you already have "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" (translation being "A Little Night Music" if my rudimentary German isn't failing me) in your collection, then this version doesn't add much except for a couple of pages of photographs (Although I *would* recommend this version to anyone who owns the "Venom Live" CD (released by Qwill), as that particular version had ATROCIOUS track divisions/indexing.
Obligatory bitter old-school statement: to all of you bitches out there who constantly whine about how Venom weren't "black metal" - when the day comes (and it *WILL*) when bands like Darkthrone and [insert favorite "black metal" band here] are out-done by some new breed of black metal that goes farther both ideologically and musically, and that ends up making all your beloved "new school" seem flaccid in comparison, lets see how well you cope when their fans tell you "don't be silly, [insert favorite band] were never black metal". May all you ignorant fucks die violently and painfully for your stupidity and lack of understanding when it comes to context...
© 2000 chorazaim
Now, with all that out of the way : this is still a fucking great CD. Why ? Because it captures one of the true giants of black metal back during their hey-dey...well, not quite their "hey-day", but as I'm not aware of any (official) full length live recordings of Venom before "At War With Satan", this is the closest you can get to hearing the band at their peak. 72 minutes spread out over 18 songs (not counting the intro or the two (bass and guitar) solos) which covers everything from "Welcome To Hell" to the bands last album together (before the re-formation that is) "Possessed", plus a few "new" tracks that would eventually end up on the "Calm Before The Storm" album. Aside from the minor inconveniences I mentioned in the first paragraph of this review, this CD is a sheer joy to behold, and Venom really cranked it out during these three gigs back in 1985/86. The packaging on this particular re-release is also excellent, with fully restored artwork and credits (not that there was much in the way of linear notes to begin with really). One small complaint is that they could have easily fit all of this onto a single CD reducing the price considerably - the band might intend for this to be sold at a "single CD" price, but we all known how unscrupulous retailers can be when it comes to this sort of thing.
Bottom line - pick this up if you're a Venom fan and don't already own it in one of it's many previous incarnations. If you already have "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" (translation being "A Little Night Music" if my rudimentary German isn't failing me) in your collection, then this version doesn't add much except for a couple of pages of photographs (Although I *would* recommend this version to anyone who owns the "Venom Live" CD (released by Qwill), as that particular version had ATROCIOUS track divisions/indexing.
Obligatory bitter old-school statement: to all of you bitches out there who constantly whine about how Venom weren't "black metal" - when the day comes (and it *WILL*) when bands like Darkthrone and [insert favorite "black metal" band here] are out-done by some new breed of black metal that goes farther both ideologically and musically, and that ends up making all your beloved "new school" seem flaccid in comparison, lets see how well you cope when their fans tell you "don't be silly, [insert favorite band] were never black metal". May all you ignorant fucks die violently and painfully for your stupidity and lack of understanding when it comes to context...
© 2000 chorazaim