Venom is a Speed/ Black Metal band, formed in 1979, in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Influenced by Rock and Heavy metal acts such as Judas Priest, The Sex Pistols, KISS and Motörhead, Venom created a sound as well an image that would be a big influence to early death, black, and thrash metal bands at the time, and the pioneers of the genre of black metal. Mayhem, Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Hellhammer, Morbid Angel and even Slipknot cite Venom as a major influence. Though musically they are more closely related to early speed metal, it was their lyrical topics and harsher vocals which separated them from other bands at the time (usually dealing with Satan and Hell and other "black" topics). Their first two records, Welcome To Hell in 1981 and Black Metal in 1982, set the bar for black metal to follow. The original members were: Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon.
Venom was formed when the band Guillotine renamed themselves in 1979. Originally, they featured Jeffrey Dunn on guitar, Dave Blackman on vocals, Dave Rutherford on second guitar, Dean Hewitt on bass guitar, and Chris Mercaters on drums. Later that year, Blackman and Mercater were replaced by drummer Tony Bray and vocalist Clive Archer of Oberon. Soon after, Alan Winston replaced Dean Hewitt on bass and Conrad Lant (of Album Garcia) replaced Rutherford on guitar.
