[10] After the release and general positive reception to the band's debut album, Venom performed a series of successful shows in Europe and the United States, building a fan base.

The band credits an improved sense of its own identity and vocalist and bassist Conrad "Cronos" Lant's increased experience as a studio engineer for the new album's heavier, more distinctive sound.

Early versions of these songs can be heard on the band's 1979 Church Hall rehearsals recording, with original vocalist Clive Archer.

The band decided to rework these two songs with the final recording having "Buried Alive" extended and the ending transitioning into "Raise the Dead".

[12] Another song on the album, "Countess Bathory", was written when "Abaddon" was late for a session, so Dunn began jamming some new riffs while Lant would work the lyrics out.

A concept album that Lant started working on originally when he was still in school that tells the story of the battle between Heaven and Hell and with the latter coming out on top.

Other themes explored on the album include nightmare scenarios ("Buried Alive", "Raise the Dead"), horror mythology ("Countess Bathory") and adolescent sexual fantasies ("Teacher's Pet").

[14] The album cover was designed by Cronos in black and white, originally done in Tipp-Ex, shows the face of a demon with a pentacle on its forehead.

Included with the first album prints was an insert with the lyrics of the songs in gothic characters and a mini-poster in black and white depicting the members of the group.

"Mantas" is portrayed posing next to a motorcycle with a wall of Marshall amplifiers in the background; "Abaddon" is locked up behind the rusted steel bars of a secret-style cell in a medieval castle; and "Cronos", armed with a ritual dagger, is kept on a leash by a woman who is wearing a leather jacket but is naked from the waist down.

[17] Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, and points to the title track, "Raise the Dead" and "Acid Queen" as "proto-thrashing classics", "Leave Me in Hell" as "surprisingly complex", "Teacher's Pet" as "unusually goofy" and "Bloodlust" and "Countess Bathory" as "absolute classics" stating that "Black Metal is right up there with its predecessor".

[11][19] The band returned to Europe and was set to headline Aardschokdag, an annual heavy metal festival held in the Netherlands, in June 1983.

Dimery wrote that Black Metal is the "perfect parody", which had "shocked many critics and parents... Only few could have imagined that this would create a 'true dark subculture'".

"[21] Numerous artists have cited Black Metal as a major influence on them, spawning many cover songs from the album by bands including Dimmu Borgir, Mayhem, Blitzkrieg, and Cradle of Filth.