Metal Pioneer Passes Away
Conrad Cronos Lant, Vocalist and Founding Force of Venom, Dies at 63
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Key Points
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Lant was born in London on January 15, 1963, and moved with his family to Newcastle when he was eight.
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Before Venom took shape, Lant joined the band Guillotine in 1979. When its bassist left a week before a scheduled concert, Lant took over bass duties and changed the group’s name to Venom.
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Lant helped create Venom’s visual identity, including its logo, and the article says he explained the band’s satanic imagery as theatrical rather than a literal religious stance.
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Kreator’s Mille Petrozza credited Venom’s influence directly, saying, “without Cronos, Kreator would not exist.”
Conrad "Cronos" Lant, the founding bassist and vocalist of British extreme-metal band Venom, has died at 63, BBC reported. Over nearly 50 years, Lant shaped one of metal's most influential sounds and helped define an entire genre — his 1982 album *Black Metal* became the name for the music style itself.
Venom's raw, provocative sound and satanic imagery influenced generations of metal musicians worldwide. Kreator's Mille Petrozza credited Lant directly, saying: "without Cronos, Kreator would not exist."
From Guillotine to Venom in One Week
Lant was born in London on January 15, 1963, and moved to Newcastle at age eight Yahoo. In 1979, he joined a band called Guillotine as a bassist. When Guillotine's bassist quit a week before a scheduled show, Lant stepped in and took over bass duties. The band then changed its name to Venom — and the rest became extreme-metal history.
Creating Black Metal as a Genre
Venom's landmark 1982 album *Black Metal* didn't just become a hit — it named an entirely new music genre BBC. The band's first albums, including *Welcome to Hell*, established a raw, provocative sound that countless metal bands would chase. Lant didn't just sing and play bass; he also created Venom's visual identity, including its iconic logo.
The satanic imagery that defined Venom's look was always theatrical, not literal religious practice, according to Lant. This distinction mattered: it let metal musicians separate shock value from actual beliefs, opening the door for decades of creative provocation WikiMetal.
Tributes Pour in From the Metal Community
News of Lant's death prompted immediate tributes across heavy metal. Jeff "Mantas" Dunn, Venom's original guitarist, paid homage: "We started something so special." Mantas had known the news beforehand and took time to reflect on their shared legacy WikiMetal.
Metal pioneers credited Lant as a godfather of the extreme-metal genre Yahoo. His influence stretched far beyond Venom — he shaped how generations of musicians thought about aggression, imagery, and sonic extremity in rock and metal.
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