Venom

Metal band from Newcastle upon Tyne (UK), founded in 1978 by previous members of the cover band Guillotine: Jeffrey Dunn (guitars), Anthony Bray (drums) and Clive "Jesus Christ" Archer (vocals, ex-Oberon) who were joined in 1979 by former Dwarfstar and Album Graecum guitarist Conrad Lant who also took over as singer when Archer left in 1980, before the recording of Venom's debut album. Considered by some to be part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, their second album Black Metal gave its name to a new style on which they exerted a major influence.

Most of their original material was written by bassist/frontman Conrad Lant (Cronos) and guitarist Jeffrey Dunn (Mantas) and featured satanic imagery. Dunn left the band in 1986 and the group split the following year, with Lant forming a new band Cronos with some of the other members. This left drummer Anthony Bray (Abaddon) as only original member. Tony Dolan (Demolition Man) was recruited to replace frontman Lant. In 1992 the new formation disbanded and in 1995 the classic line-up reformed. By 1999 internal conflicts led to several new line-up changes with Lant remaining as frontman. In 2015 Dolan, Bray and Dunn formed Venom Inc. to continue the legacy of the 1988-1992 incarnation of Venom.