Black metal band Venom’s frontman Cronos dies aged 63

The original line-up began to break apart following Possessed and Cronos pursued solo projects until a short-lived and acrimonious reunion in the mid-90s.

With changing line-ups, but still led by Cronos, Venom continued to the present day, releasing a 14th studio album – Into Oblivion – this year.

In a tribute on social media, original guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn said: “Despite the turbulent history of this band, it was at the end of the day the three of us, who started something so special and changed the direction, the movement and the history of metal as we know it.

“At times like this the thing I remember is the friendship that we had in those early days, that one for all, all for one mentality, that rebellious quality and the absolute driven urge to be something so different whether it was accepted or not.”

Rushmore said the band were themselves influenced by the likes of Motorhead, Kiss, Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper, adding: “Cronos wanted Venom to be a more evil and flamboyant hybrid of all of those bands.

“Many would say he succeeded.”

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