A huge name in the history of heavy metal is gone.
Conrad Thomas Lant better known as Cronos, the founder, frontman and bassist of Venom, has died on October 1st, 2026, at the age of 63. He was born on January 15th, 1963.
The news was announced by Venom, leaving fans of the band and generations of metalheads. With another painful reminder of how many of the musicians who helped shape extreme metal are now disappearing.
Cronos was one of the central figures behind Venom unmistakable sound and identity. The band early records, particularly Welcome to Hell and Black Metal. Became hugely influential in the development of extreme metal. 1982 album Black Metal even gave an entire subgenre its name.
And that is what makes Cronos‘ legacy so difficult to separate from metal history.
Venom didn’t simply play heavy music. They pushed it into darker, dirtier and more aggressive territory, helping open the door for the black metal, thrash metal and extreme metal scenes that followed.
Cronos was there at the center of it bass in hand, microphone in front of him and Venom making the kind of noise that was never going to be welcomed by everyone.
Over the decades, Cronos remained the driving force behind Venom. The band’s catalogue grew far beyond those early records. With albums such as At War With Satan and Possessed becoming important parts of the band’s story.
Even in 2026, Cronos was still talking about his life and career and looking back on the strange journey that began with Venom. A recent interview described the many sides of a musician whose life outside metal was just as unusual as the world he helped create.
For metal fans, though, Cronos will always be strongly connected to those early Venom years the leather, the distortion, the attitude. And that raw sound that helped change the direction of heavy music.
Cronos is gone. Venom music isn’t.
And as every metalhead knows, some records don’t really die.
They just keep getting louder.
Rest in peace, Cronos.
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