Calm Before the Storm Review

Band	Venom
Album	Calm Before the Storm
Type	Album (Studio full-length)
Released	November 7, 1987
Genres	Heavy Metal
Labels	Filmtrax
Length	36:21
Ranked	#124 for 1987 , #8,811 all-time

Reviewer :  SilentScream213         Rating :  80 / 100

There is a certain level of songwriting ability and production quality that Venom never had that prevent their albums from being true masterpieces, and put a real threshold on all their material. Despite that - and despite the very low ratings for this album - I find this their best, most consistent release.

I can understand the low votes, as Venom basically threw away their cult icon status to release much more commercially viable material, but anyone not concerned with status should be able to see this album has some very strong riffs and their best musicianship to date. They also added in some catchy vocal melodies for good measure. All the songs bar "Muscle" are great, sound unique (something Venom has never done) and offer a different side of the band that I think they excel at. There's nothing technical or groundbreaking here, but it's a great joy to listen to front to back, something I can't say even about Venom's great early material.