Calm Before the Storm
Calm Before the Storm is the fifth studio album by Venom, the British band behind Welcome to Hell and Black Metal. It came out in November 1987 on AJK Music, and sits between Possessed and Prime Evil in their catalogue. It was originally going to be called Deadline, but the name changed after guitarist Jeffrey "Mantas" Dunn left and Jimi Clare and Mike Hickey stepped in. Both later followed bassist Conrad "Cronos" Lant into his solo career, and Hickey returned for Metal Black in 2006.
What stands out is the sound. It is cleaner and more synthetic than anything else Venom made, with drums that come close to a drum machine and a brighter guitar that sits clearly apart from the bass. The extra guitarist played a part, as did producer Nick Tauber, whose earlier work included UFO and Thin Lizzy. It makes for an interesting detour for anyone who knows the band's rawer records.
Calm Before the Storm: tracklist and credits
11 tracks · 36:17Tracklist
- 1Black Xmas2:56
- 2The Chanting of the Priests4:24
- 3Metal Punk3:23
- 4Under a Spell4:09
- 5Calm Before the Storm4:13
- 6Fire2:43
- 7Krackin' Up2:14
- 8Beauty and the Beast3:50
- 9Deadline3:17
- 10Gypsy2:25
- 11Muscle2:42
From MusicBrainz and Wikipedia. Only what the sources record is shown.
Released the same week
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia 1987-11-09 vs 1987-12-21 (musicbrainz), 1987-11-07 (wikidata)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 21 December 1987 | ignored lone early release dated 1987-11-07 |
| Wikipedia infobox | 9 November 1987 | |
| Wikidata | 7 November 1987 | |
| US release | 1987 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 7 November 1987 | earliest UK or European date |
7 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | US | AJK Music | 022775632224 | other |
| 7 November 1987 | GB | Filmtrax | original | |
| 21 December 1987 | JP | VAP | 4988021850285 | other |
| 1995 | CH | Soundwings | 7619929031427 | other |
| 27 July 1999 | US | Deadline Music | 741157061123 | other |
| 2003 | GB | Alchemy Entertainment Ltd | other | |
| 19 December 2019 | XW | Music Manager | 5712192194546 | other |
Cover art sources
deezer · upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25)
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1200×1200 | upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25) |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 600×595 | upscaled |