Conrad Thomas Lant, known to generations of metal fans as Cronos , died on 29 September 2026 at the age of 63. Founder, vocalist, bassist, and defining creative force of Venom, Cronos leaves behind a legacy that reaches far beyond the music of one band.
Born on 15 January 1963, Lant helped form Venom in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1978. The band rose to prominence during the closing years of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but the music they created would ultimately help reshape heavy metal itself. Venom’s first two albums, Welcome to Hell (1981) and Black Metal (1982), became landmark recordings whose influence extended into black metal, thrash metal, and extreme metal as a whole. Indeed, Black Metal became so influential that its title would give an entire genre its name, placing Venom among the foundational first wave of black metal alongside acts such as Mercyful Fate and Bathory.
Cronos’s contribution to Venom was not confined to his voice or bass playing. He was also an important visual architect of the band, designing and creating the Venom logo as well as artwork for many of their singles and albums. Inspired by the Sigil of Baphomet, he set out to create an original emblem rather than simply reproduce an existing symbol. He repeatedly redrew and refined his design until he arrived at the distinctive logo that became inseparable from Venom’s identity. Its evolution can be traced across the band’s artwork through the years, with Cronos continuing to create new variations for merchandise and later releases.
His musical legacy was also deeply intertwined with family. Cronos played alongside his brother Anthony “Antton” Lant in Venom, while their eldest brother, Graham Lant, was the former drummer of Prefab Sprout.
On 1 October 2026, Venom bandmates Rage and Danté, together with Cronos’s son Nathan, announced his death on social media. No cause of death has been given.
Cronos leaves behind more than recordings, performances, and artwork. He leaves an enduring piece of heavy metal’s history: a sound that helped push the genre toward darker and more extreme territory, and an unmistakable visual identity that became part of metal’s cultural vocabulary.
For those who heard Venom at the beginning, and for countless musicians who followed in their wake, Cronos was a creator who helped demonstrate just how far heavy metal could go.
Rest in peace, Cronos.
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