Ex-Venom Members Mantas and Abbadon Reunite in Japan: Watch

Here’s something for your Sunday. If you haven’t already seen it, two considerable legends had a special reunion late last month in Japan, and now we’ve got the footage in full to enjoy. Guitarist Jeff “Mantas” Dunn and drummer Antony “Abbadon” Bray, formerly of Venom, performed together at the legendary Shinjuku Antiknock in Tokyo, Japan. You can watch the whole thing below.

The pair performed three classic Venom tracks with some of Japan’s heaviest metalheads: 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.

Mantas and Abbadon plan to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Venom’s iconic 1981 debut Welcome to Hell, emphasizing how they are down for Venom bassist and vocalist Conrad “Cronos” Lant to be a part of it. Mantas said:

 ”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.”

Even though Cronos is invited, Mantas never thought he’d see the day they’d ever meet up again, especially after legal battles and other drama entered the room…

“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,” Mantas explained. “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.”

Hopefully everyone can come back together and form the best version of Venom yet. For context, there’s three different bands that all use the Venom name—the Mantas/Abbadon collab, the Cronos-led version of the band (where Cronos is he only member from the band’s classic era), and then Venom Inc., which is fronted by bassist/vocalist Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan (a Venom member from 1989–1992).

Let’s consolidate and bring everyone back together again!