Venom frontman Conrad 'Cronos' Lant dies at 63, pioneer of black metal mourned

The music world mourned a genre-defining voice on 1 October 2026 with the death of Conrad Lant, better known as Cronos, the gravel-throated frontman and bassist of Newcastle band Venom. He was 63. Formed in 1979, Venom's early-1980s albums — including 'Welcome to Hell' and the hugely influential 'Black Metal' — gave the entire extreme-metal subgenre its name and inspired thrash and death metal acts from Metallica to Mayhem. Cronos's snarling vocals, down-tuned bass and theatrically occult image shaped four decades of heavy music. Tributes poured in across social media and metal publications from musicians, labels and fans around the world, with many crediting Venom's raw sound as the Big Bang of the global black-metal scene. News of his death was carried in Deaths-in-2026 updates and specialist metal press and quickly became one of the day's most-shared music obituaries, especially across the UK, Scandinavia and the Americas.