"If their older records sounded like this…oh man!"
"It sounds modern, it doesn't sound dated…"
"Venom friends were always scarier…and they can smoke in their room, too."
"Now THAT's fucking Venom…"
About This Episode
The recent passing of VENOM bassist & frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant came as an unexpected shock, especially given the recent release of INTO OBLIVION, the 16th and final album from the godfathers of extreme metal and, in our opinion, the most well produced and best sounding album in the band's discography.
Released May 1, 2026, and featuring all of the signature elements that VENOM fans would expect, INTO OBLIVION sounds modern without sounding dated and maintains the themes & imagery of darkness and evil that have been the band's calling card for nearly half a century.
Prepare to hear us butcher the name of Hurricane Isaias, get ready to brush up on your Latin skills, and find out why your VENOM friends were always scarier (and much cooler) than your other friends when you join us as we celebrate the legacy of Cronos and dive deep INTO OBLIVION. Looking for more? Revisit our Venom — Inside the Metal episode from October 2025.
🤘 Conrad "Cronos" Lant
Rest in peace. Rest in power.
"What a great legacy to leave behind…"
Album: Into Oblivion — Venom's 16th and final studio album
"Godzilla" by Inhuman Condition (Panic Prayer, 2023) — #musicvideo #BlueOysterCult / "What is that, a T-Rex? It's GODZILLA…with a mustache."
Into Oblivion — Track by Track
01Into OblivionTitle track. "That's some good produced double bass…that's what Witching Hour needs…" "That's actually a perfect mix…it's good, and it sounds like Venom…""Imagine giving Black Metal this (production) treatment…"
02Lay Down Your Soul"Callback to Witching Hour…it's almost like a reboot of Witching Hour…" "That's a pretty rad solo…" Cronos – bass, Rage – guitars, Dante – drums."If their older records sounded like this…oh man!"
03NevermoreEdgar Allan Poe, #TheRaven. "It's like dark victory metal…" "His voice is so fucking metal…it's not pretty, but you like hearing it…it just fits.""This might be my 2nd new favorite discovery of 2026…after Psycroptic…"
04Man & Beast"That sounds like Viking metal…" "It's a basic chug…it sounds dark and menacing and…metal."
05Death the Leveller"It's very Motörhead-y…very early Venom, too…" "They've been around so long they've influenced themselves…" "That's the best guitar player they've ever had…" C# Standard tuning — 1.5 steps down from standard pitch."It's on the fast track to getting the Coroner treatment…"
06As Above So Below"Now THAT's fucking Venom…" "Daemon Est Deus Inversus…" #Latin
07Kicked Outta Hell"He sounds possessed…that's what I like about him…" "It sounds like 1989…I can hear it on WREKage…" The Latin chorus: "The devil is God inverted."
08Legend"Nice squealies…it gives it a nice creepiness…" "The production makes the riffs sound WAY bigger & bulked out…" "That almost sounds a little like Tom G. Warrior right there…"
09Live Loud"Got some Tommy Victor (Prong) going on there with the pinch harmonics…""The closest you'll ever get to a Venom pop song."
10Metal Bloody Metal"This is White Zombie…" "It sounds modern without sounding dated…it's still dark and serious…" (Also: "that's what we should name the podcast…")
11Dogs of War"It's noisy…" "If you tuned all that up to E it would be kinda 'meh'…it wouldn't have the evil darkness and the heaviness to it…"
12Deathwitch"Those are some live sounding drums…they're in the room…" "There's 3 members in that band and I just heard 4 guitar players…"
13Unholy Mother"Do I sense a progressive type song? Melodic?" "Cronos will figure out a way to ugly it up…in a good way." "Kinda reminds me of a Danzig tone…or Slayer even…or Sabbath…""It sucks that (Cronos) is gone, but what a legacy!"
⚔ The Verdict
"It sounds modern without sounding dated…it's still dark and serious…"
"If you're gonna start with Venom, I'd almost suggest starting here and then going directly to Black Metal…"
"It sucks that (Cronos) is gone, but what a legacy!"
Episode Timestamps
00:01"In the middle of the night…" / "It is a windy rainy Saturday…it's very gloomy & doomy & Halloweeny…" / "Remnants of Hurricane Isaias…" / "That ain't right…that ain't what they said on The Weather Channel…" / (NOTE: Isaias means "Yahweh is salvation…God saves…" #BibleStudyASMR) / "We were blessed by not getting blown…away…" / "A lot of high-pitched talking around here…" / #markthetime / "Riff Lifter might be my new favorite band concept / band name…" / "Can't we just start the Sabbath Fuzzy Sabbath?" / #SabbathFuzzySabbath #SmaugMountain #RiffLifters #AndAssociates / WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised / "Did you just crack your knuckles?" / ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST*** / "Very excited that we have a new button…" / #NewButtonAlert
04:30***PATREON US*** at patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast / "Wait a minute…he said 'we've got Phil'…we've got a new Phil…that's not even Phil, that's Phillip…man…" / "Speaking of Norvyn, I've got a good video that he sent…" / ***EMAIL US at metalnerdery@gmail.com*** / #InhumanCondition GODZILLA (Panic Prayer – 2023) / #musicvideo #BlueOysterCult / "What is that, a T-Rex? It's GODZILLA…with a mustache." / ***VOICEMAIL US at 980-666-8182!!!*** / "Unless you've got Saudi money…" / "It's gonna get to the point that we're gonna have to do a whole voicemail episode…"
12:30#TheDocket — ***METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: VENOM – INTO OBLIVION*** / "Russ didn't know that Cronos (recently) passed away…" / #Venom #Cronos #ConradCronosLant #RestInPeace #RestInPower #RIP / (NOTE: The Venom - Inside the Metal episode was released in October 2025) / Into Oblivion is Venom's 16th album and was released May 1, 2026. / "The Venom friends were always scarier…and they can smoke in their room, too." / #RussellsReflectionsVenomEdition #TheGate / "I'm hoping that this is like the latest Pentagram record (in terms of the songs and the production) …"
19:04Into Oblivion — "That's some good produced double bass…that's what Witching Hour needs…" / "That's actually a perfect mix…its good, and it sounds like Venom…" / "Imagine giving Black Metal this (production) treatment…" / "It sounds modern, it doesn't sound dated…" / NOTE: It's NOT 2023…it's 2026! ("Why did I say 2023?")
21:47Lay Down Your Soul — "If their older records sounded like this…oh man!" / "Callback to Witching Hour…it's almost like a reboot of Witching Hour…" / "That's a pretty rad solo…" / Cronos – Bass, Rage – Guitars, Dante – Drums / "It's a good mix but it still sounds like a Venom recording…"
25:19Nevermore — "Ahhh…Edgar Allan Poe…" / #TheRaven / "It's like dark victory metal…" / "Cowbell? I thought I heard a cowbell…" / "His voice is so fucking metal…it's not pretty, but you like hearing it…it just fits." / "So far, this is not disappointing me at all…this might be my 2nd new favorite discovery of 2026…after Psycroptic…"
27:54Man & Beast — "That sounds like Viking metal…" / "I hear 'S-T'…" / "What are they tuned to? That's gotta be tuned down something fierce…" / "I want to look up the tuning for that…it's a basic chug…it sounds dark and menacing and…metal."
29:43Death the Leveller — "It's very Motorhead-y…very early Venom, too…" / "They've been around so long they've influenced themselves…" (45+ years since the release of Black Metal) / "That's the best guitar player they've ever had…" / "Was that a whistle…like a Molly Hatchet (Flirtin' With Disaster) whistle!?" / "We're 5 tracks into this thing…what was (Venom's) last album before this one (with Cronos)?" / "We are so wrong…" / CORRECTION: Tony Dolan (Demolition Man) is very much alive and very much NOT dead. / "Here's the tuning…C# Standard…this ain't no dropping the E string…" / NOTE: It's tuned a whole step down from E♭…it's tuned 1.5 steps down (from standard pitch) … / "Wow, that was fucking boring!" #THCOCD / "It's on the fast track to getting the #Coroner treatment…if you're gonna start with Venom, I'd almost suggest starting here and then going directly to Black Metal…" / "All that to say…this is fast tracking into the Coroner Dissonance Theory territory…in terms of production…"
36:25As Above So Below — "Now THAT's fucking Venom…" / "Venom is never gonna be Coroner…based on the production, I think I would start here…" / "Daemon Est Deus Inversus…" #Latin
39:03Track 7 Kicked Outta Hell — "He sounds possessed…that's what I like about him…" / "It sounds like 1989…I can hear it on WREKage…" / "That little Latin sounding part in the chorus…is a Latin aphorism meaning: 'The devil is God inverted'…" / "You just learned Latin…"
41:24Legend — "Nice squealies…it gives it a nice creepiness…it enhances the creepiness…" / "The production makes the riffs sound WAY bigger & bulked out…" / "That almost sounds a little like Tom G. (Warrior - Celtic Frost) right there…" / "Track 10…that's what we should name the podcast…" (a joke — see Metal Bloody Metal below)
44:02Live Loud — "Got some Tommy Victor (Prong) going on there with the pinch harmonics…" / "They've gotta have the double bass, always, it's gotta be there…" / "(Live Loud) is the closest you'll ever get to a Venom pop song." / "I think the whole sound (the production) is what made them campy sounding…the production was almost…laughable…"
46:56Metal Bloody Metal — "This is White Zombie…" / "It sounds modern without sounding dated…it's still dark and serious…" / The guitar player's name is Stuart "Rage" Dixon: 2007 to present. / NOTE: There was a remix of the Black Metal track in 2005.
49:46Dogs of War — "It's noisy…" / "If you tuned all that up to E it would be kinda 'meh'…it wouldn't have the evil darkness and the heaviness to it…"
51:21Deathwitch — "Listen to that tone, dude…those are some live sounding drums…I was about to say: they're in the room…" / "I'd say they struck guitar player gold with (Rage)…he's got all the things, and he can do all the stuff…" / "There's a lot of layers…there's 3 members in that band and I just heard 4 guitar players…"
54:16Unholy Mother — "Do I sense a progressive type song? Melodic?" / "Cronos will figure out a way to ugly it up…in a good way." / "Kinda reminds me of a Danzig tone…or Slayer even…or Sabbath …" / "He kinda almost sounds like Blackie Lawless for a minute…" / "That guitar player can do it…he's badass!" / "Bass!? It's a bass solo…" / "I'm glad we heard that last little part…that really wraps it up." / "It sucks that (Cronos) is gone, but what a legacy!" / NOTE: Regarding The Ultimate Revenge (it was released in 1985): Combat Tour Live - Slayer, Exodus, & Venom / "You can watch these videos on YouTube…uncut." / "It kinda feels like you shouldn't be listening to it…" / "What a great legacy to leave behind…" / RIP Conrad "Cronos" Lant / "(Cronos) had some cool boots…" / ***THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!!*** / #untilthenext #outroreel
Episode: Metal Nerdery #373 — Venom: Into Oblivion Album Review
Album: Into Oblivion — 16th and final studio album — May 1, 2026
