By 1984, Venom had established themselves as one of the more unique bands in the heavy metal genre. While not strictly black metal, they were often called the fathers of the genre (though several other bands could easily lay claim to the title), and their songs about Satan, Hell and all such things unholy undoubtedly inspired not only up-and-coming groups like Slayer, but through their full-speed charge in their songs helped to shape bands like Metallica and Overkill.
At War With Satan, their 1984 effort (and third overall), was supposed to be the album that broke them into the mainstream. It was an ambitious concept: one side dedicated solely to the ultimate "good versus evil" tale of a war between heaven and hell, the other filled with the shorter songs that concentrated their power into three to four-minute shots.
It could have worked. It should have worked.
It didn't work.
Featuring the cleanest production sound that Venom ever had to this point in their career, the band - Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon - fell far short of the target with the title track, and the remaining songs - including one of the dumbest things ever committed to vinyl - fail to live up to any of the initial promise that their previous discs held out.
Let's get the discussion of the title track out of the way. On paper, it was a noble idea, and was akin to Rush's "2112" in scope. However, by featuring it as one nearly 20-minute long track - and one that, thanks to the fade-out at the end, feels like it was an incomplete tale - actually does it a disservice. This is one that, quite honestly, could have been broken up into individual tracks, all of which eventually told the full tale of the battle royale. It would have given the listener a few brief moments to catch their breaths, take in what had just occurred, and prepared themselves for the next onslaught. (Even "2112" was technically broken up into sections, despite the fact the grooves still ran together on the record.)
To be sure, there are lines of demarcation on the track - but the sonic assault quickly overtakes these, and doesn't give the listener that chance to process the previous section. As for the fade-out at the end, I'm frankly at a loss to explain that. It's akin to stopping the story right before the climax, leaving the listener shouting, "And then what happened?!?"
The second half of At War With Satan doesn't quite pack the same punch as similar tracks from Welcome To Hell or Black Metal. If anything, these sound like leftovers (albeit with slightly better mixing)... that is, until you get to "Aaaaaaarrghh". Quite simply, this ranks as one of the most stupid things I've ever heard - and I've been up and down the musical block more times than I care to admit. What essentially sounds like a studio goofing-off piece, similar to S.O.D.'s "What's That Noise?", "Aaaaaaarrghh" carries the joke way, way too far, to the point of pure annoyance.
The "serious" tracks remaining, such as "Genocide," "Rip Ride" and "Women, Leather And Hell" just don't stand apart from anything Venom had done in their career to that stage. It's almost as if all the love and attention was given to the title track, and these were merely tacked on. If anything, I'd have preferred to have Venom stretch the tale of "At War With Satan" out to both sides of the record, with definitive tracks to break up the storyline, as I still feel there was more of the tale to tell.
At War With Satan could have been a landmark album in the world of heavy metal. But, as so many bands before Venom learned the hard way, concept pieces can often bring disaster. Instead, we're left asking "what if".