On November 30, former Venom members Jeff “Mantas” Dunn (guitar) and Antony “Abaddon” Bray (drums) reunited for a special show at Shinjuku Antiknock in Tokyo, Japan. They performed three Venom songs together at the end of the night – “Welcome To Hell”, “Countess Bathory” and “In League With Satan” – backed by Sabbat vocalist / bassist Masaki, Sigh vocalist Mirai Kawashima, Abigail guitarist Noboru “Jero” Sakuma, and Metalucifer drummer Shinji “Samm” Tachi.
Watch fan-filmed video of the entire 19 song Venom set below.
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke with co-founding Venom members – guitarist Mantas and drummer Abaddon – about them reuniting for upcoming festival shows. They also spoke about how Venom cannot reunite with Cronos and their exit from Venom Inc. Watch the video below.
When asked if there are three versions of Venom now since Mantas and Abaddon have reunited?
“As far as I’m concerned, even with us, you know? I’m just going to speak the truth. The absolute truth, right? I’m the founder member. If there’s a co-founder, it’s Abaddon. Cronos was the last one to join (the band). Everyone knows that, right? I wrote all the early material. Blah blah blah. Right? And at this very moment in time, the way I look at it is that there isn’t a Venom out there There’s bands out there who are playing Venom material. And that’s the honest way that I’ll look at it right now. When this came about (reunion with Abaddon at Keep it True Festival 2026), um, it all came about basically through a mutual friend contacting me and saying, ‘Can you ring Abaddon?’ And I must admit, I was like, I’m going to be honest, ‘Oh, I don’t really want to get involved in all this kind of stuff again.’ And I mean, Abaddon will tell you, we hadn’t spoken since 2017. So anyway, I did contact (Abaddon). And then I got um I got a message from the Japanese promoters who wanted me over for Venom Japan. And then I said, ‘look, if I’m coming over, what about if Ababbon was to come over? We (with Abaddon) sort of reconnected.’ And they were like, ‘really?’ I was like, ‘yeah, yeah, why not?’ You know, so all that was kind of arranged. I spoke to Abaddon, said, ‘Would you like to come to Japan, play a few songs?’ ‘Yep, great.’ So, flights are booked. We’re off on the 27th of November. We play on the 30th, I think it is.
“Then I got a message from the guys at Keep It True Festival, and they said ‘Venom reunion’, and I was like, ‘Good luck with that, pal.’ I say, you know, that everybody’s kicking each other’s shins in court at the moment (intellectual property dispute). So anyway, I made contact with Cronos through a mutual friend and just said, ‘Look, tell him I want to speak to him. There’s an offer coming in. It’ll be a good offer. Um so, let’s just talk. Even if nothing comes of it, let’s just talk’… nothing. So, the court case thing (in regards to the Venom logo), then the lawyer spoke to his lawyer and mentioned about the reunion and what we got back was basically it’s not worth my time.”
When asked about 45 years anniversary of Welcome To Hell.
“So, myself and Abaddon, we said, ‘Look, why don’t we just do something to celebrate this [ __ ] band?’ And that’s all we’re doing. It’s the album, it’s a celebration. Yep. It’s a celebration of Welcome To Hell. 45 years of that album, and this stupid [ __ ] band has missed every major anniversary in its history. We’ve never celebrated an anniversary of this band. So, I spoke to the guys at Keep It True, Oliver in particular, the owner of the festival. I said, ‘Right, here’s an idea. why don’t we get some special guests, people who have been influenced by the band, all that kind of thing’, you know, and he went, ‘Great. Great. Let’s do it.’ So, that was how it all came about and now we’re getting offers from other places to do the same thing. We’re going to go out and if nobody else will do it, we’re going to go out and celebrate this band.”
Antony “Abaddon” Bray recently unleashed his new book, The View From The Metal Throne – The Story Of Abaddon & Venom.
Written by Antony Bray, with Andreas Andreou, the book begins with a foreword by Brian Slagel (Founder and CEO of Metal Blade Records).
Distributed by No Remorse Records, you can order the book at noremorse.gr (book and exclusive limited box set), and at High Roller Records (book).
In Abaddon’s words, “This is my view on the mythical early years, the accomplishments, all the ups and downs of the band. The struggle, the passion, the vision, the hard work, the music, the shows, the adventure.”
The book starts with the birth of Venom and the early lineup with singer Clive Archer, the band joining Neat Records and the first recordings. There are details about the first live shows, the albums, the singles and many unpublished stories from the studio and the road. There are details about how the music industry works, record labels, touring, the early years with Metallica and Slayer, and behind-the-scenes stories: funny stories, sad stories, real stories. While the book continues, you will read about the clash between the band members but also the bond that made them create timeless classics such as Welcome To Hell, Black Metal and At War With Satan. You will read the truth about the music, the artwork and all the people involved. This is not a sanctification. This is the real story. The book also includes unpublished photos from Abaddon’s archives.
Contents:
– Foreword by Brian Slagel
– Prologue
– Chapter One – Welcome To Hell
– Chapter Two – Black Metal & The First USA Invasion
– Chapter Three – At War With Satan & The Seven Dates Of Hell
– Chapter Four – World Possession
– Chapter Five – Calm Before The Storm
– Chapter Six – The Demolition Years
– Chapter Seven – Reunion, Truth And Lies
– Chapter Eight – Venoum Inc.
– Epilogue
– The Life…
– Acknowledgments
Further details:
– Limited edition of 666 copies (600 books and 66 box sets with exclusive extras)
– Language: English
– Details: 17cm x 24cm, 224 pages (high quality paper), full-coloured
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