As metal music continued to grow in popularity, thrash bands turned up the inclusion of Satanic lyrics and sound in their music. Venom and King Diamond were among those to lead the way. Many metal bands became more extreme, musically and lyrically. Host Jon Wiederhorn speaks with Venom vocalist and bassist Cronos, Gary Holt of Exodus and Slayer and King Diamond of Mercyful Fate and many others, as he explores “The Devil in Metal.” This is Episode 1 of a 2-Episode arc.   FROM THE EPISODE:   Venom vocalist and bassist Cronos shares what led him and the band to their style of metal.   Gary Holt of Exodus and Slayer talks about his early days on the road.   Mercyful Fate’s King Diamond reveals what was behind some of the band’s pro-Satanic music.   Morbid Angel’s Trey Azagthoth reviews the band’s occult rituals.   Atheist frontman Kelly Schaefer goes over some of the crazy “stuff” he saw backstage.   Behemoth frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski reveals if he’s a Satanist?   Vincent Crowley, former Acheron frontman, talks about being a member of the Church of Satan.   Mayhem bassist Necrobutcher talks about a very disturbing 1991 incident.   Backstaged: The Devil in Metal is a production of Diversion Podcasts in association with iHeartRadio.   This season is written and hosted by Jon Wiederhorn.   Produced and directed by Mark Francis and Scott Waxman.   Our Consulting Producer is Andrew Kalb.   Production assistance from Anita Okoye and our Social Media consultant is Stephen Tompkins.   The Instrumental guitar music is by Scott Waxman and editing by Chris Schreiner.   Clem Fandango is our Technical Producer and our Director of Marketing and Business Development is Jacob Bronstein.   Executive Producers: Scott Waxman and Mark Francis.    Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum at UTA.   Learn more about the podcast at DiversionPodcasts.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com