ABADDON Says 'Prime Evil' Is His Favorite VENOM Album, Explains Why

In a new interview with Almarok, Anthony "Abaddon" Bray spoke about his plans to team up with fellow original VENOM member Jeff "Mantas" Dunn to celebrate the 45th anniversary of VENOM's classic debut album, 1981's "Welcome To Hell", at various festivals in 2026, including Germany's Keep It True and Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting. Bray said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "2026, we're going to Keep It True [festival], myself and Mantas, with guest musicians. And since we've announced that, we've had a lot of other people come in, we've had a lot of people come in and agencies and promoters come in and say, 'Will you do this in Belgium?' 'Will you do this in France?' 'Will you do this in Australia?' So, yeah, that's what we're doing.

"They'll always be festival dates. There won't be tours. There'll be festival dates," he clarified. "It'll always be myself and Mantas with a guest vocal[ist]-bassist, and with other guests — whoever's available, whoever is not working. We're working with Tom [Angelripper] from SODOM. We'll be working with Mille [Petrozza from KREATOR], Schmier [from DESTRUCTION], Tom Warrior [of CELTIC FROST] — all these people are gonna come up and do some VENOM songs with us. Basically, it's not like a band; it's like a big party. So that's what's gonna be going forward."

Abaddon added: "Next year is the 45th-year anniversary of 'Welcome To Hell'. After that will be the 45th-year anniversary of 'Black Metal'. After that will be the 45th-year anniversary of 'At War With Satan'. So we'll be playing all the songs from those albums, with some of the singles as well, and the B-sides, because VENOM were always very lucky that all the singles were always really well received, all the singles and the B-sides were well received, like 'Nightmare', 'Die Hard', all these sort of things, not just album tracks. So it's a celebration of 45 years of VENOM."

Asked which VENOM album he is particularly proud of and why, Abaddon said: "My favorite album — I've always said this — my favorite album will always be [1989's] 'Prime Evil'. I really like 'Prime Evil', and I liked it because at that time I had a recording studio and I had my equipment set up, and that was the best album that I played on because I had as much time as I needed. I think that [then-VENOM bassist/vocalist Tony] Dolan [had] brought some good stuff to the table, and so did Jeff. Obviously I love 'Welcome To Hell' and I love 'Black Metal', but 'Prime Evil' I had the sound the way that I liked it right throughout the whole album. I didn't struggle with anything. I had really good equipment, and I had a great relationship with the engineer and with the producer who came in. I was working with Kevin Ridley, who was the studio's engineer all the time. So I knew what he was capable of and I knew what he did to get certain sounds, not just for the drums, but in my case, yeah, for the drums. So it was a very easy album to make for me."

As previously reported, Mantas and Abaddon reunited for a special concert on November 30 at Shinjuku Antiknock, a legendary music venue in Tokyo, Japan. Dunn and Bray performed three VENOM classics alongside some of Japan's finest black metal players: Masaki "Gezol" Tachi (SABBAT) on bass and vocals, Mirai Kawashima (SIGH) on vocals, Shinji "Samm" Tachi (METALUCIFER) on drums, and Noboru "Jero" Sakuma (ABIGAIL) on guitar. Support at the gig came from SURVIVE and HELL FREEZES OVER.

There are now three different bands using variations of the VENOM band name. In addition to Mantas and Abaddon's new collaboration, there is the Conrad "Cronos" Lant-fronted version of VENOM, in which Cronos is the sole remaining member from the band's classic era, and there is VENOM INC., which is led by bassist/vocalist Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan, who was a member of VENOM between 1989 and 1992, appearing on the albums "Prime Evil" (1989),"Temples Of Ice" (1991) and "The Waste Lands" (1992).

In June 2024, Cronos filed a lawsuit against Abaddon and Plastic Head Music Distribution Ltd in which he accused the distributor of selling merchandise with Lant's copyrighted VENOM designs and Bray of approving the infringement through a licensing agreement. The dispute revolved around the fact that both parties were licensing and selling official VENOM merchandise featuring the contested designs.

According to Law360.com, Lant testified in court earlier this year that he joined VENOM in late 1979 and came up with the Satanic-themed designs used in the band's logo and album covers, which included goat heads, pentagrams and inverted crosses.

Bray filed a counterclaim for infringement against Lant and Lant's distributor, Razmataz.com Ltd., arguing that Bray was the real author of the works.

Because Lant was able to produce numerous sketches which demonstrated his design process and Bray was unable to do the same, Bray was deemed the owner of the original logo, while Lant was found to be the creator and copyright owner of all but one of the other artistic works in dispute.

Nearly a decade ago, Dunn formed VENOM INC. with Bray and Dolan.

Last December, approximately eight months after suffering his second heart attack, Dunn announced that he was leaving VENOM INC., explaining in a statement that his "health and wellbeing are of paramount importance to myself and my family," but adding that "there are also more personal issues which have influenced my decision."

Dunn suffered his first heart attack in May 2018 and underwent a double bypass surgery.

Mantas sat out VENOM INC.'s fall 2023 U.S. tour after revealing that his wife had been diagnosed with cancer. He was replaced on the trek by Mike Hickey, known for his work with VENOM, CARCASS, CATHEDRAL and CRONOS.

VENOM INC. is not to be confused with the Lant-fronted version of VENOM, which is continuing to tour and make albums under the VENOM moniker. Joining Cronos in that group are Rage (a.k.a. Stuart Dixon) on guitar and Danté (a.k.a. Danny Needham) on drums.

VENOM's classic lineup trio of Dunn, Lant and Bray recorded four studio LPs, "Welcome To Hell" (1981),"Black Metal" (1982),"At War With Satan" (1984) and "Possessed" (1985),and live album, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" (1986). Often cited by bands such as METALLICA, BEHEMOTH, CELTIC FROST and MAYHEM as major influences, they are one of the most revered bands of their generation. VENOM is still fronted by Cronos and headlines festivals all over the globe and continues to release new music while Dunn and Dolan had joined forces in the similarly named VENOM INC.

Abaddon was part of VENOM's classic lineup from 1978 to 1992. He then returned to the band in 1995 and stayed with them for four years before joining VENOM INC. alongside Dunn and Dolan. VENOM INC. released its debut album, "Avé", in August 2017. A year later, VENOM INC. revealed that it was recruiting Jeramie Kling of the Tampa-based melodic death metal band THE ABSENCE to fill in for Bray on a European tour while Abaddon stayed home to spend time with his newborn daughter.

Dunn, Bray and Dolan released the aforementioned three albums as VENOM: "Prime Evil", "Temples Of Ice" and "The Waste Lands".

In September 2022, Bray revealed that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma.