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NEW VINYL ALBUM CLASSICS

Universal Music have commissioned the "Let Them Eat Vinyl" label to produce the 1st 3
classic Venom Albums on 12" Vinyl, due for release by December 2009.
The new releases are prompted by the ever increasing demand for the Venom vinyl albums.
[*note: Venom's vinyl albums are no longer manufactured by the Abraxas / Earmark label]

SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR INFO

Venom will be embarking on a tour of South America this coming December 2009.

The bands management commented, "we started looking into the possibility of organising a
Venom Tour in South America a couple of years back, Venom have a massive following
in Latin America, and now that we've managed to organise a fantastic tour with the South
American Promoters, the band immediately agreed to take time out from recording the new
album to start their rehearsals for the tour.

The Tour Dates:
 5th December - Mexico / Mexico DF
6th December - Colombia / Bogota
9th December - Chile / Santiago
10th December - Argentina / Buenos Aires
12th December - Brazil / Sao Paulo

- tour dates confirmed here -

DELUXE BLACK METAL RELEASE

The new Black Metal Deluxe Edition CD is now set for release on: 14th September 2009.
The album also comes with a digitally re-mastered DVD of the classic 1984 Venom show
at the Hammersmith Odeon, The 7th Date Of Hell, only previously seen on VHS format.

GOLDEN GODS AWARDS

Cronos made a rare guest appearance at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards on
Monday 15th June 2009, he attended the event to present the "Inspiration Award" to Ihsahn.
(formerly of the group Emperor)  Seen backstage in talks with the likes of Steve Vai and
Janic Gers, plus a real who's who of the Metal world.
-- check out the Metal Hammer photo gallery --

AND THE BEAT GOES ON....

Venom's Management have just released a news statement which names the new
Venom drummer as Danté.
The band have been holding auditions for the last few months and they've finally made a
choice. "We had a fantastic response", said Cronos, "there were many great players to
choose from, but at the end of the day I wasn't looking for someone who could just play
the songs, I wanted somebody who was really hungry to be in the band for all the right
reasons, and Dante has all the right qualifications". 
Venom and their management would like to thank all of the drummers who came to the
auditions, plus all of the others who sent their CVs and CDs etc.
The band are now heads down into rehearsals with their new blood, they are already recording
the new demos for the next album, we will be posting Venom's future plans announcements
over the coming months.  Watch This Space!!!

NEW DVD UPDATES

Work on the new '7th Date Of Hell' DVD is going great, the project director Nick Barratt of
Barramundi TV commented, "We were all very excited when the original Beta Masters for the
concert were located in the old vaults, as now we can convert the footage to the Universal
standard and 4:3.  It looks and sounds great, albeit a bit rough in parts, but its probably
me being picky, but for a video from 1984 its way better than the original VHS".
The release date will be announced soon.

VENOM SHEDS OLD SKIN

Venom have now decided to part company with drummer Antton.
Cronos has released a brief statement saying: "I reformed the new Venom back in 2005,
we've had some great shows and two amazing albums during the last four years with Antton,
but Venom isn't just about what I'm doing right now, I also have to keep in perspective with
my past.  I have 30 years of Venom to deal with, and therefore I cannot separate the past
from the present, to me it's all one and the same, one journey".
At the end of 2008 the first two Venom albums were re-released in Japan, and now there's plans
for a worldwide re-release of the classic Black Metal album plus a DVD of the 1984 `7th Date
Of Hell` concert at Hammersmith Odeon. 
"Antton isn't happy about living in the constant shadow of the original line-up, he would rather
concentrate on his own band from now on, where he can be judged on his own merits".
Everyone wishes him every success in his future ventures.
~ Venom are now auditioning new drummers and will be making an announcement soon ~

BLACK METAL SPECIAL DELUXE EDITION

A special edition version of the Black Metal album is being planned for later this year.
The album will contain bonus tracks and a DVD of the 7th Date of Hell video of Venom
live at Hammersmith Odeon from 1984.

Black Metal Special Edition

UNIVERSAL JAPANESE RELEASES

Universal Music have released 2 limited Edition Venom albums as part of their NWOBHM The
Hall Of Fame Collection.  The new releases of 'Welcome To Hell' and 'Black Metal' are
currently only on release in Japan.

VENOM - Welcome To Hell

VENOM - Black Metal

-- Last Year: 2008 NEWS --