Review Summary: Better drumming, added guitar leads and solos, and diverse sounding songs makes this Demon Hunter's best album to date. Any fans of melodic metalcore (ex: KSE) should certainly check this out
Demon Hunter’s third album marks several changes for the band. First is a change in the lineup. Ethan Luck, a multi-instrument capable musician who has played with bands like Project 86 and The O.C. Supertones, was added as the lead guitarist, replacing the former second (not really lead) guitarist Kris McCaddon. Also being replaced is drummer Jesse Sprinkle, and filling his shoes is Timothy “Yogi” Watts. Yogi has a different style than Jesse, employing more double bass, and due to the change in recording quality the drums are louder than before.
Due to the addition of those members, this album has a different sound than before. With Ethan on board, there’s the addition of several leads and two nice solos, which make the music more interesting to listen to. Yogi’s drumming certainly sounds better than Jesse’s in my opinion.
Now, if you have not heard of Demon Hunter before, they play melodic metalcore, the style most popularly employed by bands like Killswitch Engage and All That Remains (screamed verse, sung chorus). Although this formula is quite common, and would make DH mediocre, but I once read another review saying that they make the transition to sung chorus sound more natural than most others. I certainly agree with this statement. Also, Demon Hunter always takes at least one song per album to a ballad, with no screaming. These are always album standouts and on The Triptych, they do three ballads –
Deteriorate,
One Thousand Apologies, and
The Tide Began to Rise – more than either previous album.
The above being said, there is one problem with Demon Hunter, and it stems back to what style music they play. If one were to compare them to either Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, or perhaps another band, their skill in playing their instruments seems pretty weak. Despite this, I’d certainly say Demon Hunter is a worthy listen. (Side note: they were the first really heavy band with lots of screaming that I came to like, and were for a significant amount of time my favorite band)
If they’re one thing I love, it’s great albums with several diverse sounding songs on them. This is one example. Whether it’s the slow ballads (
Deteriorate,
The Tide Began to Rise), the KSE-formula-following (
Undying,
The Soldier’s Song), a sort of grunge-ish sound (
Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck), or alternative/hard rock (
One Thousand Apologies) Demon Hunter succeeds quiet well at what they do, no matter how.
Great music – and great lyrics as well. Ryan Clark’s lyrics have always stood out to me as being quite exceptional. He uses quite a few metaphors and imagery throughout each song, and is not afraid to express his faith (much more on this album than before). But, it’s never quite what one would call “preachy”.
Now, that’s not to say that this album is without its problems. Like lots of music, one could easily say several of the songs sound quite the same. Also, I really felt the song
Relentless Intolerance was a filler-quality track, with it’s less than interesting intro and kind of boring chorus – not to mention a lame breakdown. Speaking of breakdowns, the one in
Not I is fairly uninteresting at it’s start, but after a sample of the intro is repeated it gets a bit better.
Bottom line: if you’re a fan of the sing/scream melodic metalcore style, then certainly try some Demon Hunter. This is what I feel to be their best album.
Standout songs:
Undying
Deteriorate
Science of Lies
Ribcage
