Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
On Sunday, November 30, former Venom members Jeff “Mantas” Dunn (guitar) and Antony “Abaddon” Bray (drums) got back together for a special show at Tokyo, Japan’s storied Shinjuku Antiknock. Dunn and Bray performed three Venom classics alongside some of Japan’s top black metal players: Masaki “Gezol” Tachi (Sabbat) on bass and vocals, Mirai Kawashima (Sigh) on vocals, Shinji “Samm” Tachi (Metalucifer) on drums, and Noboru “Jero” Sakuma (Abigail) on guitar. Support during the performance came from Survive and Hell Freezes Over. Video of the “Welcome To Hell” performance from the Shinjuku Antiknock concert, courtesy of the Roppongi Rocks channel on YouTube, can be seen below, as reported by blabbermouth.net.
Mantas and Abaddon have revealed that they will honor the 45th anniversary of Venom’s great debut album, 1981’s “Welcome To Hell”, at different events in 2026, including Germany’s Keep It True and Belgium’s Graspop Metal Meeting. Speaking to MetalKaoz, Dunn revealed that the door is open for Venom bassist/vocalist Conrad “Cronos” Lant to take part in the reunion.
I’ll tell you right now that for 2026, the 45th anniversary of ‘Welcome To Hell’, Cronos has been invited. He was invited by me. He was invited by the lawyers in the [recent] court case [involving Cronos and Abaddon]. His answer was, ‘It’s not worth my time.’ That was his answer. – Jeff “Mantas” Dunn
Mantas went on to say that he would never look forward to spending time with Cronos again.
What I say to people is this. Fair enough, everybody wants to see their favorite members back together. We know that. ‘And, oh, yeah, just travel separate. Just go in separate hotels.’ We’ve done all that. We’ve done that. We did it on the first reunion. Okay, think of the most toxic relationship you’ve ever been involved in, how it made you feel. At your age now, invite it back into your life.
