The inspiration for writing a track filling out an entire side of the record, according to Venom's bass guitarist and vocalist Cronos, came from Rush's 2112 album.

[2][3] "At War with Satan" is centred on a character named Abaddon (which is also the alias of Tony Bray, Venom's drummer), who is the guardian to the gates of Hell.

[2] The title track's imagery and storyline largely evokes the Book of Revelation and John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (1667–1674), filtered through a postmodern horror movie and pulp aesthetic.

In the opinion of About.com's Chad Bowar, "At War with Satan" is at the same time "highly ambitious" and "bloated", but the song was "so over-the-top and so dramatic that it somehow worked" and made the album "an overlooked metal gem".

[1] The rise of metal's popularity in the 1980s was paralleled by the political power gained by conservative organisations such as the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC).

Venom became one of its early victims: HMV stopped selling At War with Satan in fear of legal action because of Britain's obscenity laws.