By 1985, Venom's act was wearing thin.
Arguably one of the forefathers of black metal (as well as being at the forefront of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal), the trio of Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon had spread the Satanic panic over the course of three rough-sounding albums that, in their own ways, were ground-breaking.
But, whenever someone does something first (and I'm using that term loosely), there will be others coming along to do it better. Slayer turned the speed up to 11; Mercyful Fate increased the Satanism and upped the ante with real musicianship and good production values. Add into that the fact that 
At War With Satan, what was supposed to be Venom's breakthrough album, didn't succeed on many levels.
Faced with the rise of similar artists making reservations for the Black Mass, one would have expected Venom to up their game plan and answer the up-and-comers tit for tat. Instead, they gave us Possessed.
Even Satan himself had to be scratching his horns, asking, "What is this shit?"
Let's give some credit where credit is due. Mantas finally shows he has talent as a guitarist, pulling off some decent solos. And the production isn't as bass-heavy, though it does seem to have returned to a muddled sludge that causes the instruments to sound like they were recorded in an echo chamber.
That's about where the praise ends for Possessed. Tracks like "Satanichist," "Harmony Dies," "Flytrap" and "Suffer Not The Children" show none of the promise that their earlier work did. As for the demonic imagery... witch, please. At this stage, Venom really would have needed to have gone over the top to out-evil King Diamond or Tom Araya. Instead, they seem stuck in second gear, with Cronos's vocals buried in the gummy lump of the mix.
With rare exception, every musical artist or group suffers a stumble in their career. Possessed is the sound of Venom falling flat on their faces. It was enough to send Mantas running for the exits one year later - and, to some, the band never truly recovered, despite the fact they've charged forward and are still together as of the writing of this review.
Possessed is, pure and simple, a bad album - and not in the Satanic way. Avoid it.