Album Review: Venom - Prime Evil (1989)

I've owned a copy of Prime Evil by Venom for a few years now, but I've only just got around to listening to it in full (admittedly, this is the case for a good number of albums for which I own physical copies of) and I'm enjoying it thoroughly.  I've always loved the thrash/black metal propensity for over-the-top and super heavy tempos and riffs, and Prime Evil has it in spades.  Thrash metal has always been the domain of Stateside bands, and the fact that this is an English band is welcome change to the modus operandi.  Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and of course, Black Sabbath are among the greatest heavy metal bands out there, but they've never been heavy in the thrash/black metal sense, although Judas Priest has put out some kick-ass eighties and nineties speed metal offerings, such as Screaming for Vengeance and Painkiller.  This is raw, unbridled aggression in keeping with the fundamental premise of the thrash sub-genre, and it does so spectacularly well, giving many of the American West and East Coast bands a seriously good run for their money in the process.  From "Prime Evil" to "Live Like An Angel Die Like A Devil", every song, and I mean EVERY song, is a masterpiece, and trying to determine which songs are good, which songs aren't so good, and which songs are bad is near on impossible, but it is consistently good.  Albums like this are very rare indeed.  It'll scare the shit out of your mother, irritate the hell out of your father, and possibly give your grandmother an aneurysm.  Brutally good in every sense.  A