Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Thrash metal trio BAT, featuring Municipal Waste‘s Ryan Waste, have unearthed a recording made more than a decade ago in tribute to the late Conrad “Cronos” Lant of Venom. Their version of “Live Like An Angel (Die Like A Devil)” was made available digitally on October 27, 2026.
The group recorded the cover in 2015 while working on its debut full-length “Wings of Chains”. It was tracked alongside the album’s original material but remained unreleased for more than ten years. Following the news of Cronos’s death, the musicians decided to return to the recording and share it publicly.
BAT explained that Venom‘s impact on the band goes back to its earliest shows, when “Live Like An Angel (Die Like A Devil)” was a regular part of the live set. In a statement introducing the release, the group said it had decided to “resurrect it in his honor.”
The cover features BAT‘s 2015 lineup: Ryan Waste on bass and vocals, Nick Poulos on guitar and Felix Griffin on drums. Ian Whalen and Yavé Rust engineered the recording, with Joel Grind handling the mixing and mastering.
Cronos, the influential Venom bassist and vocalist whose work helped shape extreme metal, died at the age of 63. Venom announced his passing on October 1, 2026; no cause of death was made public in that announcement. BAT‘s newly released recording serves as a musical acknowledgement of his legacy.
The song is available through the band’s official streaming and download links. Listen below.
The metal-punk ensemble BAT, hailing from Richmond, Virginia, has been propagating their distinctive blend of horror-infused music since their emergence from the underground scene approximately ten years ago. This group, conceived by Ryan Waste, the guitarist of Municipal Waste, traces its origins back to 2008, when Waste initially envisioned the concept alongside a former member of D.R.I.
For an extended period, BAT existed primarily as an abstract idea rather than a fully realized band until Waste recruited guitarist Nick Poulos from the heavy metal project Volture, which Waste had been pursuing concurrently with his responsibilities in Municipal Waste. As Volture diminished in momentum in 2013, BAT began to gain traction, with Waste and Poulos developing a sonic narrative that evolved from a foundational “straightforward, no frills” ethos into a more abrasive, darker sound, heavily influenced by the gritty aesthetics of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
With Poulos’s dynamic lead guitar work, Waste returned to his roots of distorted bass playing, complemented by Felix’s unrelenting drumming.
