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Review Summary: A single lost spark. Demon Hunter is one of the few bands to emerge from the radio rock scene without sounding like a bland Nickelback/Theory of a Deadman ripoff. They've been labeled as "Metal" and "Metalcore" although their most recent record, "Outlive" is firmly rooted in modern rock territory. This doesn't mean there aren't some more abrasive influences that work their way into this record, with the punkish energy, harsh vocals and occasional chugging riffs consistently present. It's just here melody likes to take precedent over this, with the decent if somewhat sterile cleans being balanced alongside immensely cathartic violins and keyboard. That's what makes Demon Hunter a notch better then the rest of the "microwave safe" rock bands of our era. They aren't consistently great off this record, but a spark of passion is very much there.
Demon Hunter has times where they radiates positivity off this album. Now, lyrically, they are as bland as a can of yams. Thankfully the musicianship at points covers up for this, starting with the anthemic "Trying Times", which has a nice, crunchy riff in the beginning alongside some blatantly flat yet somehow still enjoyable vocals. It's more so the lead into the vibrant, hardcore-influenced "Jesus Wept", which has a much more gritty, abrasive tone to the vocals. Again, nothing stellar, but it's still something fun to jam out to. This can be applied to all but the final track on this album. Nothing stands out immensely other then some admittedly sweet shreds and a handful of good riffs, but it still makes for an entertaining "shallow" listening experience.
Earlier I stated the musicianship covers up for the poorly written lyrics "at points". What happens when neither the riffs nor violin/keyboard are present? You're left with insipid, uninspired clean vocals, rather half-assed harsh vocals and drumming with quite literally no distinguishing features to it. There's essentially no really level of musicianship present at these points, neither in terms of talent nor emotion. They're harmless, but unfortunately nothing more, and this is where Demon Hunter begins to degenerate into the aforementioned ready-to-serve generic rock bands. The album has a solid string of songs like this, however hope is reignited when your hear the tracks "One Step Behind" and "Slight the Odds".
I would have almost entirely wrote off this record if not for these two tracks. Off of "One Step Behind" it feels like the vocalist has finally found the ability to free himself from the stagnation that plagued the rest of this album. While still very mechanical sounding you can hear a very warm, soothing tone to his voice, of which can also be said of "Slight the Odds", which is the track that really steals the show here. The drumming, while still fairly average, finally stops sounding lifeless while the violins add an unbridled sense of sincerity and passion to them. If the album had this spark of passion all along, who knows what kind of inferno it could've made. It's unfortunate that on most fronts it doesn't. Hopefully the meandering spark off of "Outlive" flourishes into something more.
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I think Demon Hunter stopped being worthwhile after Storm the Gates of Hell, honestly.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
I wasn't ever really huge on Demon Hunter but I certainly digged several of their older songs, they definitely softened up on this record.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Why everyone negging this?
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
I've always wanted Demon Hunter to go in a more melodic direction, I loved some of their ballads over the years, but this was pretty disappointing.
You don't deserve those negs, the review is fine.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Was wondering if I needed to improve the review but I actually enjoyed a few of the ballads here. The rest was pretty eh
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I do appreciate the album art consistency
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Good review. Need to hear.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
Good review, though I find the first sentence to be a pointless generalisation that I don't believe to be true, and one I think is unfair to alot of bands in the genre, and I don't even like the genre. Regardless, good stuff overall
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
I don't feel like Demon Hunter is a radio rock band indeed, I think they are kind of unique. Although I do think this record could've been a lot better, especially the vocals and production ruin this. Big suprise since True Defiance and Extremist were really good, I thought they were really gonna deliver a great record here
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
I don't know, I feel it pretty heavy off this album at least. They almost sound somewhat tailored for radio music.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
They are way too related to metalcore / heavy metal to be considered radiorock, only their ballads are basicly radiorock
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
I suppose I was more so referring to this album because haven't heard a heavy amount of their older music so maybe this was an unfair statement.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
I was more objecting to your statement that most radio rock bands sound like Nickleback/Theory of a Deadman rip offs, rather than that Demon Hunter are radio rock (I wouldn't know, having not heard them); its such a sweeping statement that I find hard to believe is justified
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
I've heard my fair share and tbh 90 percent of it sounds exactly the same. I mean obviously there are exceptions but they're few and far between.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
I'd still contend that you're overly generalising if your claim is that ALL radio rock bands sound specifically like the bands you mentioned. For sure lots of radio rock has similar characteristics, but it isn't all in the style of Nickleback; you've got your more electronic stuff like Skillet and Papa Roach, more hard rock acts like Shinedown and Alter Bridge's (if you are willing to stretch the definition to radio hard rock) and stuff like old Radiohead. Lumping them all in a bag, and many many others, seems erroneous. Probably just a disagreement as to what we're defining as radio rock, I likely define it more broadly then you do, I'd just recommend more precision with your language is all.
Hell I don't know why I went on this tangent, I largely hate radio rock and it was a picky point so my apologies, just wanted to explain my opinion
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
To add to my point, radio rock, I would argue, also covers a lot of pop punk / rock like Green Day / Sum 41 and all sorts of stuff ranging from Imagine Dragons to Royal Blood to Hunting Party era Linkin Park. Regardless, Ima pos the review as its solid other than one sentence haha. It'd be as easy to fix as removing the named bands and saying something like 'Demon Hunter have maintained a strong spot in the radio rock scene for their ability to differentiate themselves from their contemporaries as can be so hard to do' (obviously worded better, but you get the point that it makes your intended point without generalising)
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Yeah I suppose, I guess its just a certain brand of radio rock. Like there are the more pop electronic brands like imagine dragons, pop punk like offspring and green day, then your "ballad-core" which is basically this album.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off
This is bad. I didn't expect anything to wow me since this is Demon Hunter we're talking about, but goddamn this is audio Nyquil.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
"Audio Nyquil"
That's actually a pretty solid description for like two thirds of the album
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
I can see why people can be disappointed by this album... but after multiple listens I still really enjoy it, and I am happy I do!
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