Venom Founder Cronos Dies at 63; Black Metal Pioneer Shaped Extreme Metal

Conrad Lant, known by the stage name Cronos, the founder and bassist-vocalist of the influential British heavy metal band Venom, has died at age 63. The band announced his death on October 1, 2026, via social media, with no cause of death disclosed.

Lant was born in Chelsea, London, in 1963, and moved to Newcastle at age seven. He joined Venom in 1978 during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, initially as rhythm guitarist before switching to bass and later becoming lead vocalist after original frontman Clive Archer departed in 1980. The classic trio was completed by guitarist Jeff "Mantas" Dunn and drummer Tony "Abaddon" Bray. Inspired by punk's raw energy combined with the darkness of Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper's theatricality, Venom released their debut album Welcome to Hell in 1981, featuring the controversial single "In League with Satan." Their landmark 1982 follow-up, Black Metal, gave the black metal subgenre its name and established core aesthetic and sonic elements that defined the genre. The album's creation was notably unconventional, involving steel plates cut with chainsaws and earth dumped into a makeshift coffin.

Venom's uncompromising approach—combining raw speed, distortion, and blasphemous imagery—proved profoundly influential on thrash metal pioneers including Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth. A young Metallica even opened for Venom in the early 1980s. The band's influence extended beyond metal: the Beastie Boys sampled Lant's onstage banter, and he later collaborated with Dave Grohl's metal supergroup Probot in 2004.

After Venom disbanded in 1988, Lant pursued a solo career as Cronos and trained as a fitness instructor, computer engineer, and graphic designer. He reunited Venom in 1995, and they released Cast in Stone in 1997, their first album in 12 years with the original lineup. In 1999, Lant survived an internal coup attempt when Bray sought to remove him from the band. From that point until his death, Lant steered Venom through multiple personnel changes, most recently with guitarist Stuart "LaRage" Dixon and drummer Danny "Dante" Needham. He performed on 12 Venom albums, with their latest, Into Oblivion, released in May 2026. Venom continued to tour internationally, including at summer 2026 festivals.

Lant's son Nathan released a statement thanking fans for their support, saying his father "has laid down his soul, and his music will live on." Original guitarist Jeff Dunn, in a tribute, stated that the classic trio "changed the direction, the movement and the history of metal as we know it," despite the band's turbulent interpersonal history. The band's statement did not indicate whether Venom would continue without Lant.