No other band has done more for extreme metal than Newcastle’s Venom. Yet, their legacy wasn’t always assured; as the 1980’s drew to a close they were left floundering due to a succession of poor albums (and career moves) and were overtaken by the very bands they influenced. What they needed was an injection of fresh blood to revitalise them and that came in the shape of bassist/vocalist Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan and second guitarist Al Barnes. Now operating as a quartet, Venom set about steadying their ship and in doing so released three albums and an EP that proved they could more than swing with the groups they inspired. Now collected as a three disc set with a booklet featuring new interviews and unpublished photos, Blackened Priests perfectly illustrates why Venom were, and remain, the root of all evil.

Disc One: Prime Evil / …Tear Your Soul Apart (EP)

Replacing an iconic vocalist is no easy task, especially one as instantly recognisable as Cronos. However, Tony Dolan succeeded because he had two things in his favour; a Geordie accent and a similar type of gravelly growl, but it works primarily because Tony isn’t trying to fill any boots and he definitely brings his own thing to the party, and with Al Barnes fleshing the band out to a quartet, it was obvious that Venom wouldn’t be treading water and the first fruit of their union was 1989’s Prime Evil long player. Rightly regarded as a stunning return to form, Prime Evil offers a glimpse at an alternative reality of what Venom could have been if this album followed At War With Satan rather than the insipid Possessed. The production is clean, but with a little dirt under the fingernails, the songs are well written and given added oomph by a band who are locking it tightly and attacking with force. It evidences a band evolving, but without tearing up their roots; tracks such as ‘Skeletal Dance’ are the amphetamine-fuelled thrashers Venom pioneered, whilst a cover of Sabbath’s ‘Megalomania’ is cinematic and epic, and that’s another two things that they brought to the table. Mr. Dolan really understood the essence of Venom and his penned ‘Blackened Are The Priests’ (a track which gives this collection its name) could slot effortlessly into Black Metal and not seem out of place. Those roots are rediscovered on ‘Skool Daze’, the continuing saga of ‘Teacher’s Pet’, that finds the band indulging in some lewd and lascivious language and highlight’s an often overlooked aspect of the band (i.e., dark humour). More roots are excavated on a re-recording of ‘Live Like An Angel, Die Like A Devil’ (a bonus cut originally appearing on the CD version of Prime Evil) that show Venom weren’t throwing the baby out with the bathwater, all of which made Prime Evil prime Venom.

By their very nature EP’s such as …Tear Your Soul Apart are unwieldy, uneven beasts that are neither here nor there. Often released at the behest of a record label or as a stop-gap while awaiting a new album, they have a rushed, cobbled together feel and unfortunately that’s the case here. There’s certainly nothing wrong with these tracks, but it is the piecemeal manner in which they are presented, the live tracks are typical Venom (i.e., fast and thunderous) but together they don’t really convey the intensity of a live gig. The studio tracks are leftovers (granted, leftover from the very good Prime Evil) but you can’t escape the feeling that they didn’t make the final cut for a reason. In a move that was typical of Venom’s career, …Tear Your Soul Apart would prove to be a slight stumble when what the band really needed was a sure step to continue the good work of Prime Evil.

Disc Two: Temples Of Ice

Released two years after the excellent Prime Evil outing, Venom’s second album with their reconfigured line-up, Temples Of Ice found them regressing a little after its forward facing predecessor. Of course, taking a step backwards is not necessarily a bad thing, and those who felt alienated by the cleanliness of Prime Evil were appeased by this effort. Furnished with a slightly muddy and dirty production, Temples Of Ice is more in tune with the sound found on Welcome To Hell whist Dolan’s bass is much more prominent in the mix and means that Venom sound like the classic power trio (even though they are operating as a quartet). Overall, this album has another dark aesthetic with songs ranging from the measured ‘Faerie Tale’ to the all out attack of ‘Acid’, Temples Of Ice is an album that’s always shifting gears and no more so than on ‘Playtime’, another chapter in the ‘Teacher’s Pet’ story that doesn’t really sparkle like the others, but it does bring the band’s humour to the fore with opening riff lifted from ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and slap bass (think The Stray Cats playing metal…). A pedestrian cover of Deep Purple’s ‘Speed King’ doesn’t have the same sparkle as ‘Megalomania’ from Prime Evil, but Temples Of Ice is redeemed somewhat by dramatic and epic closer (and title track) which fills the mind’s eye with otherworldly visions in the way that only good metal can.

When held up against Prime Evil, Temples Of Ice didn’t quite reach the same heady highs but that’s not to say it’s a bad album, far from it. The songs hang together as a collective whole and flow together smoothly, meaning this is the kind of record you can listen to in one sitting. The overarching feel of this album is glacial and frostbitten and will ingratiate itself into your psyche like cracks within ice. Temples Of Ice is a fan favourite which is often overlooked by the wider metal community, but hopefully that will change with this reissue.

Disc Three: The Waste Lands

Drawing inspiration (and it’s title) from the work by T.S. Eliot, The Waste Lands was to be the final album featuring Tony Dolan (until this line-up was later reconfigured as Venom Inc.). In many ways it can draw comparisons with Possessed; both came after a period of intense creativity and both alienated their core fanbase to some degree. While it’s true you can’t judge an album by its sleeve, that which houses The Waste Lands was too far removed from the band’s aesthetic. Their iconic logo had been replaced by block lettering, whilst the whole design looked far from devilish. It was as if Venom were try to distance themselves from their own past and if you had seen this in your local store you might have thought it was a Prong release, or something. However, The Waste Lands Achilles Heel was that it was too far ahead of the curve and it feels as though time is only just catching up. The Middle Eastern flourishes and progressive solos found on opening track ‘Cursed’ would later be picked up wholesale by the likes of Nile and Dream Theater.

While Venom’s songcraft is of a high standard, The Waste Lands often seems rudderless; there’s the epic proggy opener ,and the strange closer ‘Clarisse’ wouldn’t sound out of place on Dio’s Magica opus. Elsewhere there are nods to Manowar and Carnivore, and only occasionally do the band release the handbrake and thrash like beasts (‘Wolverine’), and thrashing beasts is exactly what people want from a venom album. The Waste Lands is not a bad album, in fact it’s a rather brave effort, but was probably too eclectic for a metalhead in 1992 and you feel it would have done better business had it been released under another name.

Blackened Priests documents an era when Venom were pulled back from the abyss and had their credibility restored and is undoubtedly the reason why two versions of the band exist today. Legacy restored.

• Blackened Priests is released via Cherry Red Records/Dissonance on 27th June 2025.

Track List:

Disc One: Prime Evil

1. Prime Evil
2. Parasite
3. Blackened Are The Priests
4. Carnivorous
5. Skeletal Dance
6. Megalomania
7. Insane
8. Harder Than Ever
9. Into The Fire
10. Skool Daze
11. Live Like An Angel, Die Like A Devil

…Tear Your Soul Apart (EP)

12. Skool Daze
13. Burstin’ Out (Live)
14. The Ark
15. Civilised
16. Angel Dust (Live)
17. Hellbent (Live)

Disc Two: Temples Of Ice

1. Tribes
2. Even In Heaven
3. Trinity MCMXLV 0530
4. In Memory Of (Paul Miller 1964-1990)
5. Faerie Tale
6. Playtime
7. Acid
8. Arachnid
9. Speed King
10. Temples Of Ice

Disc Three: The Waste Lands

1. Cursed
2. I’m Paralysed
3. Black Legions
4. Riddle Of Steel
5. Need To Kill
6. Kissing The Beast
7. Crucified
8. Shadow King
9. Wolverine
10. Clarisse