Calm Before the Storm (Venom album)
Calm Before the Storm is the fifth album by Venom. The original title of the album would have been Deadline, but the title was changed when guitarist Jeffrey "Mantas" Dunn left the band and was replaced by Jimi Clare and Mike Hickey. Both were to follow bassist Conrad "Cronos" Lant in his later solo career and the latter would also return on the 2006 album Metal Black.
| Calm Before the Storm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 7 November 1987 | |||
| Recorded | 1987 | |||
| Studio | The New Marquee Studios, London, UK | |||
| Genre | Thrash metal, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 36:20 | |||
| Label | Filmtrax | |||
| Producer | Nick Tauber and Venom | |||
| Venom chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 7/10[2] |
The album is characterised by a "cleaner", more synthetic sound when compared to Venom's other albums. Especially the drums, which sound almost like a drum machine, are contributing to this fact. Also, the guitar has a brighter sound and is easily distinguishable from the bass. The change in sound is perhaps mostly due to the addition of another guitarist and the producer Nick Tauber, who had previously worked with hard rock acts such as UFO and Thin Lizzy.[3]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Black Xmas" | Conrad Lant | 2:57 |
| 2. | "The Chanting of the Priests" | Lant, Anthony Bray | 4:25 |
| 3. | "Metal Punk" | Lant | 3:24 |
| 4. | "Under Her Spell" | Lant | 4:09 |
| 5. | "Calm Before the Storm" | Lant, Bray, James Clare | 4:14 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Fire" | Lant | 2:42 |
| 7. | "Krackin' Up" | Lant | 2:15 |
| 8. | "Beauty and the Beast" | Lant | 3:49 |
| 9. | "Deadline" | Lant | 3:17 |
| 10. | "Gypsy" | Lant | 2:25 |
| 11. | "Muscle" | Lant, Clare | 2:43 |
Personnel
- Venom
- Cronos – vocals, bass guitar
- Mike "Mykus" Hickey – guitar
- James Clare – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
- Abaddon – drums, backing vocals
- Production
- Nick Tauber - producer
- Keith Nichol, Andy Lovell - engineers
- Stuart Brown, Nigel Broad - assistant engineers
- Aaron Chakraverty - mastering
References
- Huey, Steve. "Calm Before the Storm - Venom". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
- Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 396. ISBN 978-1894959315.
- "Nick Tauber credits". Swisscharts.com. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
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