Conrad Lant

Cronos
Cronos performing with Venom in 2013
Background information
Birth name	Conrad Thomas Lant
Born	(1963-01-15) 15 January 1963 Kensington, London, England
Origin	Newcastle, England
Genres	Heavy metal Speed metal Thrash metal
Occupations	Musician Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals Bass
Years active	1979–present
Member of	Venom
Formerly of	Cronos
Website	venomslegions.com

Conrad Thomas Lant (born 15 January 1963), also known by his stage name Cronos, is an English musician. He is the founder, vocalist, and bassist of the heavy metal band Venom.

Biography

Early life

After playing in a couple of high school bands—Dwarfstar and Album Graecum—Lant took the stage name Cronos and, in 1979, joined a band called Guillotine as a guitarist. There, he met Jeffrey Dunn, who later became Mantas. In 1979, the original bassist left one week before a church hall gig. Instead of canceling the show, Cronos took up the bass, and they changed the band name to Venom. Cronos has since continued to play bass throughout his career in Venom. In 1980, the band's vocalist, Clive Archer (stage name Jesus Christ), left the band, leaving Cronos to take over that role as well, finalizing the band as a three-piece group.

Cronos started working at a recording studio called Impulse Studios after he left school. The studio had a number of labels releasing albums by folk musicians and local TV comedians, although he eventually convinced the studio to start a label for rock bands. The label, called Neat Records, began signing bands from across the UK and releasing singles and albums from 1980 onward. As the members of Venom could not afford studio time, Cronos persuaded the studio engineer to let him use some free time in exchange for staying late after work and doing other unpaid tasks. Cronos sent many copies of Venom demos to various record labels and to the rock press, where a journalist for Sounds magazine, Geoff Barton, featured three Venom songs in his playlist. This caught the attention of Neat Records, who then agreed to release the first Venom single.

Cronos was also responsible for designing and creating the Venom logo and the sleeve artwork for their many singles and album releases. He wanted to use the Sigil of Baphomet as the band's main emblem but sought to create a new and original version of the sigil. He began redesigning it, and the Venom logo was drawn and redrawn many times until he was satisfied. The development of the logo can be traced through the band's many single and album covers, as it becomes increasingly refined over the years. The logo continues to evolve, as Cronos still designs new versions for merchandise and future albums.

Solo career

Venom took a break in 1988, and Cronos embarked on a solo career, occasionally featuring in many other bands of a similar genre, including Cronos, Enthroned, Cradle of Filth (Cronos contributed a monologue to the end of the Cradle track "Haunted Shores" from their 1996 album Dusk... and Her Embrace), Warpath, Massacre, and Necrodeath. He also produced albums for other bands.

In 1995, Cronos contacted the original guitarist and drummer and reformed the original Venom lineup, headlining the Dynamo Festival in 1996. Venom attempted to continue with the original members but only managed to play one show per year over the next few years. They had signed a three-album deal with CBH/Steamhammer in Germany, but when they moved forward with the second album after Cast in Stone, certain members chose not to continue. Venom employed a stand-in drummer for the next album, Resurrection, which was well received by critics, although they still only managed to play two shows—Wacken and a show in Holland.

Venom took another short break after Cronos was injured in a climbing accident. In 2004, Cronos enlisted his Cronos band guitarist, Mykas, and began rebuilding the band's reputation with the album Metal Black in 2006, followed by a sold-out UK tour and four headline shows at major European festivals. In 2007, Cronos replaced the guitarist with Rage, releasing the album Hell in 2008 and again touring to sold-out shows. By 2009, Dante joined the band, and starting with a full South American tour, Venom continued to headline various festivals each year. As of 2019, the lineup of Cronos, Rage, and Dante had remained intact for ten years, with three albums released during that period: 2011's Fallen Angels, 2015's From the Very Depths, and 2018's Storm the Gates.

Later activity

Cronos with Venom in 2013

In 2000, the band headlined the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany and played a one-off show in the Netherlands before being forced to take a break after Cronos was injured in a climbing accident in 2002, which left him unable to play bass or sing for nearly two years. He took to the computer to pass the time and studied computing and games programming. He learned 3D software skills and worked as the main multimedia engineer for the computer and internet solutions companies K-Class Systems and Globalfibre.tv. Alongside company owner Scott Toward, they created the first computer models for streaming media for the internet and mobile phones, as well as programming and building gaming maps and developing internet access via satellites.

Cronos reformed Venom again around 2003, temporarily recruiting an unknown, basic nu-metal drummer and guitarist, as he needed a couple of average players to help kick-start the band while he searched for professional, permanent musicians. Cronos had asked guitarist Mantas to rejoin the band, but Mantas declined, releasing a statement on Blabbermouth saying he would never rejoin Venom, as he was pursuing a new direction with his band Zero Tolerance and was in the process of recording an album.

After spending the next couple of years planning and in intensive rehearsals, Venom released their album Metal Black in early 2006 and embarked on a sold-out world tour. Venom performed the classic single "Die Hard" alongside Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down) at the Gods of Metal 2006 festival in Italy, where they headlined. Cronos also appeared on Dave Grohl's heavy metal side project Probot in 2004 and guest starred on the track "Knights of the 21st Century" on HammerFall's 2005 album Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken.

Discography

With Venom

• Welcome to Hell (1981)
• Black Metal (1982)
• At War with Satan (1984)
• Possessed (1985)
• Eine kleine Nachtmusik (1986)
• Calm Before the Storm (1987)
• Cast in Stone (1997)
• Resurrection (2000)
• Metal Black (2006)
• Hell (2008)
• Fallen Angels (2011)
• From the Very Depths (2015)
• Storm the Gates (2018)

With Cronos

• Dancing in the Fire (1990)
• Rock n' Roll Disease (1991)
• Venom (Cronos compilation album) (1995)
• Hell to the Unknown (2006, anthology release)

Other appearances

• Pure Filth by Warfare (1984) – vocals and bass on "Rose Petals Fall from Her Face"
• Mayhem Fuckin' Mayhem by Warfare (1986) – vocals on "You've Really Got Me"
• Inhuman Condition by Massacre (1992) – vocals on "Warhead"
• Dusk... and Her Embrace by Cradle of Filth (1996) – spoken word on "Haunted Shores"
• Probot by Probot (2004) – vocals and bass on "Centuries of Sin"
• Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken by HammerFall (2005) – vocals on "Knights of the 21st Century"

Production work

• Beware of the Dog by Tysondog (1984)
• Se parare nex by The Blood (1985)
• Mayhem Fuckin' Mayhem by Warfare (1986)

External links

• Media related to Conrad Lant at Wikimedia Commons