This review was done with the assistance of hollowguy…thanks man.

Demon Hunter is the sort of band that I (and I’m guessing many of you) normally do not like. The funny thing about them however, is that I do like them and while I don’t expect any miracles, I’m thinking there maybe more than a couple others out there that might be pleasantly surprised by them as well. I realize that metalcore is a genre that many grew sick of long ago but I was able to avoid this by simply not listening to it very often except for a few instances, Demon Hunter being one of them.

They are certainly a full-fledged metalcore outfit complete with plenty of chugga-chugga riffing and cleano-screamo vocals, however it comes with a couple twists and a distinctive personality that separates them from the rest of the pack. The band has had to dodge the dreaded ‘nu-metal’ tag because they use a lot of down tuned guitar tones but they aren’t nu-metal. The beginning of “Fire to My Soul” off the latest album is the most blatant example. It could almost be Korn until they double time it…then change it the meat of the song. All in all, they are a solid metal band worthy of a little more attention than they get.

The Triptych is Demon Hunter’s third album and it is without a doubt their strongest and most important work to date. Their 2002 self-titled debut was a fine start but other than being quite catchy it did little to stick out, 2004’s Summer of Darkness was more of the same. With the Triptych, Demon Hunter simply improves upon and explores their sound in ways that you would think every band would be able to do by their third release, but unfortunately, many do not. So what is it that separates this album from the millions of other similar outfits wanting you to buy their cds?

The way I see it, there are a few factors that differentiate Demon Hunter from so many of their peers. First, Demon Hunter does a much better job of adding different layers and textures to their guitars that takes their sound far beyond your standard metalcore fare. It gives them a more multi-dimensional sound and in the end, it just makes them more listenable. Secondly, although many of us are tired of the predictable, clean vocal parts on so many albums these days, Demon Hunter vocalist Ryan Clark is simply more talented than most of his metalcore peers. His clean vocal choruses are often more original and pleasing to the ear than what we’re used to. If only Clark would drop his ‘I’m constipated like Randy “Macho Man” Savage’ technique…you can’t help but want to hear him yell “snap into a SlimJim!” Oh but I digress.

All in all, he is clearly one of the best vocalists in his genre, he has a nice assortment of tricks at his disposal and is really just a flat out good singer. Finally, Demon Hunter’s songs have a diversity to them not normally seen within this genre. There is so much more to them than one might expect as their concepts are well thought out, their lyrics are deeper, and their hooks are often unexpected. They have an originality of subject matter and album flow that is pretty scarce at times with other metalcore bands. They can kick your ass one minute and make you think the next. They’ve even got a couple semi-ballads on the Triptych that (gasp) are actually quite good, especially “One Thousand Apologies” which is one of those songs that a proud metalhead might try his best to hate but simply cannot because of its undeniable quality. There’s even an oddly placed yet surprisingly enjoyable cover of the Prong classic, Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck.

All in all, this cd is worth its purchase price if you’re amenable to well produced and ably executed metalcore. If I were rating this album based on its relative worth to the metalcore genre alone, I would probably go as high as an 8 or 9 but as I stated earlier, this is a genre that I’m not overly impressed with and gets a bit of the short end when it comes to my personal play-lists so I can’t go that far. Truly though, I’ve always had a soft spot for Demon Hunter and this album does nothing but further cement them as one of my favorite…well, let’s not go that far…it cements them as a good band in my book and one that I’m more than happy to give a spin when the mood hits me. The Triptych kicks some ass, I hope a couple of you decide to give it a try.

This entry was posted by Biggus on Thursday, 17th November, 2005 at 23:15 and is filed under Reviews, Demon Hunter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response below. You may view a   printable version of this page. You may download this page in   PDF format.