The Roots of Extreme Metal

As some of you may know, Metallica were a band I was absolutely obsessive over at one point and are in my DNA by now. Even to this day despite all the trash they've put out I still defend them, because they practically invented a genre. Sure metal had been around well before Metallica but what they did was up the ante, keep the roots intact and embrace it's mainstream qualities in order to make it safe for the rest of the world. That I have enormous respect for. So why do I bring this up. Well even though Metallica are my absolute love in the genre and excited me in a way musically that no other band had done, the most interesting stuff that has come out of metal I think is the stuff from a sub genre that is anything but mainstream, which Metallica do to a degree represent. That sub genre is Extreme Metal. As I am planning on writing a blog on the history of metal, this can be seen as my prep for the later chapters in the book. 

Extreme metal essentially is an evolution from the harsher moments of the genre Metallica are most associated with (thrash - a tighter version of speed metal, which grew out of classic metal's fastest moments). It built on thrash and aimed to push all of the core qualities of heavy metal to a point of absurdity. I always draw analogies between extreme metal and free jazz, as it does some really bizarre, unorthodox things and sometimes sound like a complete blur of noise on first listen. Ornette Coleman wasn't exactly easy listening was he? Today however he is respected beyond belief for changing the course of musical history and experimenting with radical approaches to sound. I always looked at extreme metal from the same academic point of view. Not to get too snobby and pompous about it, a lot of the energy and catharsis from traditional metal's still there but I think the knee jerk reaction associated with extreme metal is an unfair one. It's a far more intellectual genre than given credit for. Where the misconceptions of stupidity start however may very well be with extreme metal's earliest pioneer. 



Here we have the silliest song Venom ever recorded, their very own version of Van Halen's Hot for Teacher. I don't think I need to explain why this song is corny and ridiculous and why I hated it on first listen. These days I kind of enjoy it though, however I don't think it's anything that unique or interesting. I just think there's a lot of fun to be had with Venom as a metal fan but I won't deny that musically they kind of suck. Their drummer has no flair and sounds like he's trying to do these really jazzy fills but he can't because he's so locked in, there's no looseness or flair involved at all. He's an absolutely terrible drummer who only gets away with it due to his relatively simple approach that makes sure he never pushes past his limitations. Abaddon is the Sid Vicious of drumming. Furthermore Mantas comes up with some memorable riffs but is very meat and potatoes, and Kronos has a mild charisma but not a whole lot of dynamic power beyond his raspy yells. Don't get me wrong they are fun but they are basically the harsher more satanic version of hair metal. They got that Spinal Tap quality if you will.

So don't act like I am going to have this huge defence of Venom if you think they are crap. I get it, there's basically nothing going on. However I am saying this from the perspective of a modern listener. It's very difficult to look at them with fresh eyes but they terrified people. First band to ever say that they weren't just interested in satanism and black magic but that they are satan, they are black magic. It wasn't true of course but song titles like "In League With Satan" didn't beat around the bush like older metal bands had. Not to mention their extremely creative and exciting live performances and their catchy choruses made them some what of a fun kitsch band. There's nothing ostensibly artistic about them but even their guitarist Mantas has admitted he never saw them as musicians but as entertainers. I respect that humbleness about them, something that hugely influential power metal band Manowar never admitted. I always saw Manowar as sad and pathetic, just an embarrassment overall. I acknowledge they were really influential but if you listen to it in general it's just unbearable. Had Manowar admitted they were in it for a laugh I might of enjoyed them more. 

Ultimately Venom were the birth of the imagery and lyrical content associated with extreme metal's most notorious category - death metal. The same things are also attributed to death metal's step sibling black metal which not only had the same lo-fi production style as Venom, but shares it's name with Venom's sophomore album. Also Kronos who really limited the melody and intricacy of the music that older metal singers opposed entirely, pushed his extremity on an outrageously heavy vocal performance to the song "Bloodlust" where the early black metal style can be most found. This song utterly slays everything in it's path, and given it was before even thrash metal, you think that Venom in a way invented three genres just in the course of their first album, even if they had no variation after it. 

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Venom weren't a great band but they were fun and memorable and they brought velocity and speed and harshness to a point that had never been reached before. Thrash probably was inevitable with or without Venom but they gave it a good kick start and their imagery was enormously innovative. Not to mention they were just fun. They're a band i'm just glad to have around when i'm in a dumb, macho mood. Up next we will discuss the most influential extreme metal band of all time.