At the time Venom released its first album in 1981, the group’s imagery — including skulls, bondage gear, swords and all manner of pseudo-witchcraft and Satanism — and flamboyant stage antics were so over the top that many did not take them seriously. But their influence on heavy metal, particularly thrash, was vast and far-reaching, on bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and even Nirvana drummer/Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, who collaborated with Lant on the Probot project in 2004. Venom’s album “Black Metal” even spawned the name of a subgenre that has been taken to even greatest extremes by many Scandinavian bands.
Venom went on hiatus in 1988 and Lant embarked on a solo career as Cronos throughout the 1990s. But Venom reformed for another seven LPs, the most recent being 2018’s “Storm the Gates.” The band continued to tour right up until this past summer.
