Venator is a Newfoundland based musician telling the story of Victor Moore through electronic music. Venator creates an incredibly rich soundscape built from layers of melodies, textures, and exquisite use of synth, percussion, and guitar to write unconventional songs.
The name Venator was inspired by readings about ancient Rome and is the Latin word for “hunter.” Victor Moore – also known as Venator 5507 – is a 25-year-old lost soul suffering from insomnia. He’s a bioenhanced bounty hunter by trade and survivor of a failed government experiment gone wrong.
Venator’s songwriting shines. The songs are tales being told from the future world where Victor Moore resides. The songs feel like the tale dictates their structure. At some moments, there is no hurry. The melodies emerge over time and the listener is immersed in a melody before they are fully aware. At other moments, transitions to new melodies emerge in a non-linear fashion.
Venator’s style does not neatly fit into a box. With respect to genre labels, Venator said, “As useful as they are for organizing and classifying music, part of me dislikes genre labels. At least with respect to what I make.” This resonates with me. Labels gloss over the details. And it is the details from which the music is written. Venator added, “Music in general is an artform and should reflect the feelings, emotions and experience of those who make it, and this can come with rejecting the boundaries of genre.”
I discovered Venator by chance. Power of the Purple Flame popped up on my Bandcamp feed one evening and, as fate would have it, I paused to explore it further. I discovered a whole new world of electronic music, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. I was immediately drawn to the progressive songwriting, the spontaneity and unpredictability, yet unmistakable technical precision. Unbeknownst at the time, Power of the Purple Flame is the second entry in a developing trilogy telling Victor Moore’s story. The first entry is Cybertheism.
Cybertheism
Cybertheism is set in 2072 in Newmerica, a supercontinent glowing from neon lights, crammed with towers, and overrun by crime. Victor Moore must fight The Juggernaut, an alpha test subject who is now a possessed superhuman bringing chaos to New York City after letting loose an army of hostile androids.
Cyberthesism has a narrative quality. The listener hears rain and thunder opening “Lord of Shadows,” creating a time, place, and mood that gives way to synths that stretch and fold through time. “Steel, Onyx and Blood” also adds a narrative quality. Musically, the song features industrial and cyberpunk attributes and majestic melodies that trot along the stars in a black sky with black metal percussion in places. As the song comes to a close, the listener hears the channel on what sounds like an old tube television locking into the signal as it switches from one channel to the next. On each channel, the same person is heard. The speaker professes about evolution, the apex predator, and the centuries old pursuit and use of weapons to dominate other animals. It closes with a thought-provoking statement: You do not feel guilty when you squash a fly. And I think that means something.
The narrative is perhaps most salient on the title track where the listener hears Victor Moore on a voicemail recording. People have been killed. He expresses sorrow because he failed to help the city that needed him. He questions whether his voicemail will be heard, but it is by, perhaps, the intended recipient. “Cybertheism” clocks in over 16 minutes. It is a journey built from metal riffs at times and layers of distinct synth melodies and big atmospheric synth at others. As the song enters its last segment, Venator introduces piano to do only what its character can do. He creates a somber and reflective mood, painting a gray, rainy backdrop for a lead melody to cut through thick, heavy air. At this moment, Venator takes the listener to a completely new and enlightened space to dwell.
The songwriting on Cybertheism foreshadows Power of the Purple Flame, yet the latter is its own beast.
Power of the Purple Flame
It’s 2078. Victor Moore has been lying low for the past five years. New York City believes he is dead. But he has been deep in the forest training with masters of Cybertheism. Meanwhile, New York City has been suffering at the hands of the Blackbloods. Victor Moore returns only to encounter faceless goons roaming the streets and oppressing the people. He assembles a team of Argonauts to battle the Blackbloods.
The cover art for Cybertheism and Power of the Purple Flame were done by Venator’s dear friend Dakota Hull and act as visual ‘dramatis personae’ for the story.
I was struck by the many artists who collaborated on Power of the Purple Flame, adding instruments such as guitar, vocals, saxophone, and more. Venator said, “I’m always looking towards very talented people I’m privileged to know. Working with them is always rewarding as hell, because I’m always interested and excited to see what other people can bring to the table when they’re presented with something that I’m working on.”
The songs on Power of the Purple Flame are mosaics constructed from multiple segments. The development of melodies on the album shine, entertaining and intriguing the mind to inquire further. For instance, the lead melody on “Midnight Phantasmagoria” plays like a merry-go-round at a carnival for the insane set against a backdrop of pulsating beats and surgical synth sounds from the future. Every time the lead melody loops around, there’s a feeling you’ll be allowed to hop off but, no, you must go around again.
Power of the Purple Flame is a well-lit showcase for Venator’s unique songwriting. Consider “Druid From the Bronx” which features break beat percussion, layers of synth melodies all setting the foundation for the emotion of the lead melody built from robotic sounds from the future. The songwriting is fluid, moving us to places we are aware of seemingly only after we have already arrived, all with distinct moods. I asked Venator to provide a window into his approach to songwriting. He said, “Sometimes, when I’m creating the foundation of tracks, I feel like I’m just channeling and my body is acting automatically, but I become a lot more conscious when I’m adding details and fine tuning.”
Power of the Purple Flame has plenty of high energy songs that forcefully exit the gates, such as “Nemesis 2078.” It also has many songs that are in no hurry to take you the places you’ll go, such as “Titan!” and “Power of the Purple Flame.” On structuring the order of songs, Venator said, “I want everything I release to feel like a journey from point A to point B, to point C, to point D. I like to have a balance here, where there’s a lot of different stops on the itinerary but changes never feel too erratic. And if something is suddenly changed, it has to be earned. A break comes after something that might be emotionally straining.”
Fast and slow movement, highs and lows, dense and open spaces characterize the songs on Power of the Purple Flame as much as it does the album. These attributes are noticeable on “Werewolf Angels from Atlanta.” It opens with a progression that grows and grows, dropping into a funky bass line. The main melody climbs and climbs and, when it feels it can go no more, it ramps up another level, all alongside beats that rave. Over relatively short windows of time, the song twists and turns on several occasions. The intensity lets up, though, after several minutes and the listener is dropped into another, open space to navigate, recover, and wander.
Venator creates intrigue through synth sounds and emotion through their melodies. On “Ensnared,” for instance, the lead synth melody plays like a keyboard in the night sky, electronic and neon. As the melody shifts into new places, it infects the listener with electricity.
Power of the Purple Flame closes with “Memento Mori,” a song clocking in over 20 minutes in duration. The sheer length piqued my interest. If you’re a Pink Floyd fan, you might detect a few nods to “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and “Wish You Were Here.” I was curious how Venator approaches writing songs of such great length. He said, “It’s hard to say that the process for longer songs is much different, although there is the added challenge of not boring the listener with what is essentially a single concept.” “Memento Mori” is anything but boring. When it comes to an end, I often find myself wanting to play it again.
Venator’s view on big closers echoes my own. He said, “To me, long songs serve as a great ‘grand finale’ to albums.” He added, “It’s a commitment by the listener to sit down with something that’s pretty dense but is hopefully worth it in the end.” For me, it’s the journey, the places I’ll visit, that long songs bring to the table. As an artist Venator said, “There’s certain things I think you can do in longer songs that you don’t have the chance to do in shorter songs.”
Power of the Purple Flame was released by Steel City Collective. Read our story about the label here which recounts accolades for the album from the label’s own Jonny and Bones.
Victor Moore's Fate is in Sight
Venator’s next full-length LP will be the last entry in the trilogy telling Victor Moore’s story. Venator has the end to Victor Moore’s story in sight and said he needs “the stars to align so I can properly chronicle it via music.”
I will take this opportunity to advocate for the eventual pressing of the trilogy on vinyl and packaged as a box set with accompanying artwork and a booklet with the story of Victor Moore written inside.
In the future, Venator fans can expect stories written about other characters in the future world where Victor Moore resides.