Conrad “Cronos” Lant, who died at 63, was the voice and bass of Venom, who contributed to giving name to a genre with the album Black Metal
Conrad «Cronos» Lant, vocalist and bass of Venom, has died at the age of 63. The news closes a musical event that has left a profound mark on metal: not only for the records, but for the freedom with which Cronos and his companions reinvented the sound and staging of a heavy metal band.
Venom came from Newcastle, from the industrial and restless landscape of the late Seventies. In 1981 Welcome to Hell he put into circulation a rough, fast and deliberately brazen sound; in 1982 Black Metal took that attitude even further. The title would lend its name to one of metal’s most influential subgenresbut Venom’s music didn’t coincide with the black metal that would emerge later: Cronos used that expression to distinguish himself from the more conventional heavy metal of his time. The band was a catalyst, a fuse; subsequent scenes would take that trigger and transform the genre into something different.
Venom are often placed in the first wave of black metal; their sound, however, does not coincide with that which will establish itself in the second Norwegian wave between the end of the 1980s and the 1990s. Their music had roots in British heavy metal, but exaggerated its speed, distortion and aggressionalso absorbing the urgency of punk. However, there remained songs built on straight riffs, choruses, grooves and a rock’n’roll energy. Their contribution was decisive precisely because it opened a path that others would follow in more radical directions.
That said, Venom wasn’t a parody: they knew that rock could be loud, scandalous and fun at the same time.
That combination set them apart from the more austere and solemn interpretations that would come later. Satanic imagery did not exhaust their range: it coexisted with horror theatricality, provocation and explicit humor. Their darkness had something spectacular, almost horror movie-like: a mask worn with conviction, but without giving up the fun of the game. Cronos was its face and voice: hoarse, exaggerated, unmistakable.
After them, many would make metal more extreme; few would have had the same audacity. Cronos’ legacy also lies in this mixture: ferocity and irony, infernal imagery and rock’n’roll, ambition and taste for provocation. Black Metal gave a name to a musical world still in formation. Cronos, with Venom, helped open the door.
