VENATOR Psychodrome CD JEWELCASE (SEALED) + OBI

Dying Victims Productions, jewelcase, obi, sticker

Forming in 2016, it took VENATOR a while to get going, but when they finally did – it was ON! In 2020, the Austrians released their debut EP, Paradiser, which DYING VICTIMS eventually put on a split LP with the late ANGEL BLADE. Those three songs were an incredibly auspicious first start, showing VENATOR as a band seemingly thawed out from 1983, so authentic and skyward was their songwriting. As the buzz began to build, it came to boil with the band’s debut album, Echoes From the Gutter. Released by DYING VICTIMS in early 2022, VENATOR’s debut album was everything a first full-length should be: a summation of demo legwork, but an equally concerted strive for new & greater heights. Electricity was positively bristling from every second of the record; stunningly addicting, one anthem after another was doled out in seemingly effortless fashion, showing VENATOR as young masters of melody and moodiness.

Following the release of Echoes From the Gutter, VENATOR made good on their street-level charm by hitting any new stage they could, heavily gigging first with labelmates MEGATON SWORD in 2023 and then with labelmates TOXIKULL last year. That increased charisma spills over into their second album, Psychodrome. Indeed, with a title and cover like that, Psychodrome builds an era-specific atmosphere that’s “on brand” for a vintage-savvy band like VENATOR – but such sometimes-superficial moves would all be for naught if they didn’t have the SONGS to back them up! And back ‘em up, VENATOR do here, showing ever more sides to their sonic arsenal whilst sounding characteristically themselves. Much of LP#2 punches forward to a cruising mid-tempo – fist-shaking, for sure, but never overly speedy – while some other songs dip into tempos both faster and slower. But no matter the speed, VENATOR quickly and compellingly establish mood and almighty MELODY: street level as before, but with that heart-on-sleeve passion that puts this into a realm all its own – one that’s authentically mid ‘80s heavy metal heroism in one sense, but strangely refreshing in another. Frontman Hans Huemer once again rallies the warriors with a performance that’s rough and emotive in equal measure, while the rest of his bandmates sharpen their swords with slightly more clarity and spit-shine those godly HOOKS to deadly levels. A lateral development from their almighty debut, then, but another modern classic in the making!

Just like that debut LP, anyone pining for the 1983/’84 peak of the likes of Tokyo Blade, Grim Reaper, OZ, Witch Cross, Heavy Load, and even Judas Priest, here again do you have a band adding to that hallowed lineage rather than plagiarizing it – or perhaps moving the calendar year to 1985, fucking CLASSIC either way. VENATOR command you to enter their Psychodrome!