Cronos - Hell To The Unknown: The Cronos Anthology

Flabby anthology by Geordie black metal muscle head

That Venom had to split in 1987 is not disputed. Despite laying the foundations for thrash metal and (along with Bathory) kick-starting black metal, they had become an insipid joke, a substandard Spinal Tap soundtrack to games of Dungeons & Dragons played in suburban attics. When Conrad ‘Cronos’ Landt split from original drummer Tony ‘Abaddon’ Bray, he took with him guitarists Matt Hickey and Jim Clare. Cronos, then, was little more than Venom V.2.0, introducing the first fumbling steps towards virtuosity to the formula, and immediately stripping Cronos of any lasting impact (part of Venom’s original visceral thrill and, yes, charm was in the scrappy, punky guitar work and garage-standard recording). Their legacy is witless songs about tits (Boobytrap), sex with school girls (Old Enough To Bleed) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (I’ll Be Back), written for teenage boys who were getting none of the first two but plenty of the latter. By the time they had been reduced to re-recording and ruining Venom tracks, Cronos had been rendered all but pointless by young Turks Metallica and Slayer. But, if nothing else, this album contains the genre’s only Yuletide song, Black Xmas. Marginal at best.

Castle Music | CMQDD 1398 (2-CD)

Reviewed by John Doran
<< Back to Issue 332