Original VENOM Guitarist JEFF 'MANTAS' DUNN Pays Tribute To CONRAD 'CRONOS' LANT: 'We Changed The History Of Metal As We Know It'

Original VENOM guitarist Jeff "Mantas" Dunn has paid tribute to the band's bassist/vocalist Conrad Lant, better known as Cronos, who died earlier this week at the age of 63.

In a social media post, Jeff wrote: "May I thank you all for the overwhelming outpouring of appreciation and condolences. Justly deserved I believe.

"I speak for myself and Abaddon [Antony Bray, original VENOM drummer] who I spoke to today when I say that, despite the turbulent history of this band, it was at the end of the day the three of us, who started something so special and changed the direction, the movement and the history of metal as we know it.

"We were aware of the news two days ago, but obviously without the consent and wishes of Conrad's family, we were not at liberty to say anything to anyone and we respected that.

"At times like this the thing I remember is the friendship that we had in those early days, that one for all, all for one mentality, that rebellious quality and the absolute driven urge to be something so different whether it was accepted or not.

"I still have many early video footage recordings of the three of us where we just laughed sometimes for no other reason than just being silly, our sense of humor was an acquired taste.

"I thank you all for the countless messages and as I've said, despite the history, the arguments, the name-calling, the ups and downs and the dysfunctional manner of this band, this hits hard.

"I shall speak to you tomorrow, my friends.

"Rest in power, Conrad Cronos Lant."

VENOM's latest studio album, "Into Oblivion", came out in May via Noise/BMG.

The most recent lineup of VENOM consisted of Cronos alongside guitarist Rage (a.k.a. Stuart Dixon) and drummer Danté (a.k.a. Danny Needham).

"Into Oblivion" was VENOM's sixteenth studio album and marked the band's first new recordings since 2018's "Storm The Gates" LP.

Prior to Cronos's death, there were three different bands using variations of the VENOM name for their live shows. In addition to the new collaboration between Dunn and Bray, VENOM's iconic co-founders — who recently announced that they would celebrate the 45th anniversary of VENOM's classic debut album, 1981's "Welcome To Hell", at various festivals in 2026 — there was the Cronos-fronted version of VENOM, in which he was the sole remaining member from the band's classic era, and there is VENOM INC., which is led by 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 last 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.

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.