Riffiter on Black Metal

Black Metal sounds cheap, fast and a bit ridiculous, and that is exactly why it mattered. Venom recorded it in seven days and Cronos mixed it himself, so nothing is polished: the bass is a growl under the guitar, the drums run ahead of everyone, and the vocals sound like they were shouted from across the room. Musically it sits closer to Motörhead than to anything later bands built on its name. But the title track and Countess Bathory still hit hard, and the attitude is the whole point. A Swedish band took its name from one song here and a genre took its name from the cover, which Cronos drew himself. Few records this rough have been this useful to other people.