With a sound very reminiscent of the greats from the 1980's we got Austria's own VENATOR. Formed in 2016 they released their debut E.P "Paradiser" in 2020 which secured their signing to Dying Victim Productions so they could release their first full length album with "Echoes from the Gutter" which was unleashed to the world in February 2022. The band are strongly influenced by JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN with a mix of the German classic scene. With all this goodness mixed into one lets give the album a listen.

We open with "Howl at the Rain" which builds from the start and you can hear this is going to be big. With a cool lead guitar line the riffs then come in and kick things off. The song has a nice pace to it and has a lot of energy too. Complete with an anthem style chorus and some great vocal work and guitar solo's with a lot of style to them. The guitar work is great and this is a great opener. Next up we got "The Seventh Seal" which has this acoustic intro with lots of melody. The riffing madness then explodes that will get all those heads banging. This song packs a punch and has a really cool chorus section. The band are on fire here with some great dueling guitar parts. The acoustic guitars are back for the middle section which then builds to this epic solo and then back for one last chorus.

A gloomy melody opens up the track "Nightrider" with some nice bass lines behind it. It explodes again with some stylish riffing. There are lots of energy once again with a big sounding sing along chorus. Lots of cool lead guitar lines as a solo rips through the track. The bass then keeps everything going as the guitars come back to complete the middle section. It builds back up for more riffs and a final chorus as the lead guitar lines help lift the song up. After that one we got "Manic Man" with its great old school riffing which really gets you moving. The vocals command the song here as the chorus packs a punch. The guitar solo's here are unreal and the track is manic as the title suggests but it all works really well. This is a really cool tune.

Nearing the end we got "The Hex" which stomps its way in accompanied by a great twin guitar attack. The song is very much in the style of something by early IRON MAIDEN and the riffs are to the point as the guitar work is a real highlight. The vocal delivery is great and it helps to hammer in those supernatural lyrical themes. The solo tears through the track followed by dueling guitar harmonies which are great. Epic tune all round.

After that we got the final song with "Streets of Gold" which opens with acoustic melodies. We then get a burst of heavy metal goodness. There is a lot of melody here and it has a nice pace too. This is the bands final assault and the riffs are just so good. There is a fun sing along chorus as the lead lines add substance to it. The guitar solo really lifts the song up. Then we go onto one last chorus to close out the album with style.

"Echoes of the Gutter" is an awesome album and hats off to VENATOR here. It has some really nice vocals here and plenty of cool guitar riffs and shredding solos with style. These are very fun songs too and you can really hear the bands influences. The guitarists play off of each other great. You can hear every instrument perfectly which shows there was really good production put to this. The songs are just great and they have lots of energy to them too. I just really fucking loved this.