Venom singer/bassist Conrad Lant, better known as Cronos, has died at the age of 63.
His band confirmed his death in a statement today (Tuesday, October 1). No cause of death has been given.
On Venom’s social media, Lant’s son Nathan thanks fans for the support they gave his father during his more than four-decade career.
“I want to thank all of the Legions for all of the support you have given my dad over the years,” he writes. “I know he really appreciated you all. He has laid down his soul, and his music will live on. The legend of Cronos will never die.”
Born in London in 1963, Lant moved to Newcastle aged eight, where he joined Venom in 1978, during the burgeoning New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Inspired by the rough, DIY nature of punk rock, the trio – completed by guitarist Jeffrey ‘Mantas’ Dunn and drummer Tony ‘Abaddon’ Bray – brought a raw fury to the UK heavy metal scene, first heard on 1981’s controversial yet ultimately seminal debut album, Welcome To Hell, which UK music magazine Sounds hailed as “possibly the heaviest record ever allowed in the shops for public consumption.”
“I loved Motorhead,” Cronos said in 2019, “they were a huge inspiration, but I wanted to have the Black Sabbath satanic thing too, and Alice Cooper‘s theatricality, and punk’s aggression. I wanted us to be evil.”
Recorded in six days, Venom’s second record, Black Metal, was released in November 1982, and received a five star review in Sounds from future Classic Rock editor Geoff Barton. The album’s title track became the band’s signature song, influencing the namesake extreme metal genre, featuring such bands as Mayhem, Emperor and Darkthrone.
Lant left Venom in 1987, launching a solo career as Cronos, but returned in 1995, and fronted the reunited band on 1997’s Cast In Stone, the first Venom record in 12 years made by their original line-up.
In 1999, Lant survived an internal coup after Bray failed in a bid to fire him – “I was the guy who put this together, it was my artwork, my ideas, my songs, my vision,” the frontman later commented, “I wasn’t going to be pushed out of something I created” – and from then until his death, he steered the band through multiple personnel changes, the latest lineup being rounded out by guitarist Stuart “LaRage” Dixon and drummer Danny “Dante” Needham. Lant ultimately performed on 12 Venom albums, the most recent being this year’s Into Oblivion.
“To this day, there’s never been another Venom,” he stated proudly in 2019. “No one has come close to what we did.”
Venom’s statement did not say whether the band will continue without Lant.
Slayer/Exodus guitarist Gary Holt is among the musicians who’ve paid tribute to Lant since the news of his passing was announced.
“I’m devastated by this news,” he posted on Instagram. “One of my all time hero’s is no longer with us. The two Bonded era tours @exodusbandofficial did with @venom_band_official have and will always go down as the greatest tours we’ve ever done. Young kids touring with your biggest hero’s ? How do you top that? You can’t . This one has me sadder than you can imagine. Fucking gutted. He helped shape Exodus into what we became. I owe him a debt that cannot be repaid. Thank you brother.”
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