Overview
- Venom confirmed Thursday, October 1, 2026, that Conrad 'Cronos' Lant had died at age 63 and the band has not disclosed a cause of death.
- His son Nathan thanked fans in the band’s announcement, saying Cronos ‘laid down his soul’ and that his music and legend will live on.
- Cronos remained active through 2026, singing and playing bass on the studio album Into Oblivion, released in May with guitarist Stuart 'Rage' Dixon and drummer Danny 'Danté' Needham.
- A 2024 lawsuit over Venom artwork and merchandise produced mixed rulings on logo and art ownership, and Cronos’s death creates immediate questions about who will control merchandising, touring and use of the Venom name.
- Cronos co-founded Venom in the late 1970s and helped shape extreme metal; the 1982 album Black Metal is widely cited as a foundational record that seeded the black metal genre and influenced thrash and death metal.