Demon Hunter - "Outlive" (2017) Album Review
Metal music, no matter its message, is typically understood as aggressive and brutal, and, for almost two decades now, the Christian metal band Demon Hunter has been riding the fence between defying and enforcing this stereotype, to the point that even defining the band's primary subgenre has been difficult. Demon Hunter change their sound with each album. the technical thrash-inspired riffs of 2010's "The World is a Thorn", to the simplistic, melodic nu-metal of the first few albums, and each record shows an incredible variety of sound in itself, ranging from brutal riffing to wistful ballads and everything in between, driven equally by Ryan Clark's incredible singing and imposing screamed vocals.
Such duality lends itself easily to experimentation with new sounds and structures, one of the more interesting examples of which is the 2017 release "Outlive" which put Demon Hunter in a more atmospheric and avant-garde territory compared to their previous albums, making the guitar riffs quiet and subdued and adding piano and synthesizers (not remotely new territory for Demon Hunter) for melody and atmosphere. While neither the most recent nor the best-selling of the band's albums, "Outlive" remains interesting to me as it showcased a whole new side of Demon Hunter's music that had not been seen before and created what could even be a new, if small, niche in melodic metal if it is significantly explored,whether by Demon Hunter themselves or other artists.
I do not have the time to go through the entire album track-by-track, however, I will talk briefly about the singles and the tracks which stood out to me personally.
The album opens with "Trying Times", a satisfying, if short, track drenched in reverb, that showcases Clark's singing vocals in a slower, more atmospheric way than is usually heard on Demon Hunter records. This serves as a great introduction to the album and the atmosphere that will follow.
The second song, "Jesus Wept", is the heaviest of the album, returning, in some aspect, to the metalcore influences of "The World is a Thorn", yet still layering in a touch of the dismal, lonely mood the entire album follows.
"Cold Winter Sun" was the main single released before the rest of album, and it was a deal-breaker for most long-time listeners. The main guitar riff/melody that the song revolves around is composed of single notes and has nothing of the huge, bombastic power chord heaviness of Demon Hunter's past albums, however it is catchier than the other songs on the record, which is where I feel the new 'minimalist' Demon Hunter truly shines.
Similarly, "Patience", the second-to-last track of the record (right before the very unmemorable but fittingly peaceful outro "Slight the Odds"), turns the catchiness levels up to 11. The piano melody is still quite simplistic and ''bleak'', similarly to the other songs of the album, but when it is taken over by guitars, the entire minimalist vibe breaks down in face of epic tremolo picking over power chords, somewhat in the vein of bands like Harakiri for the Sky. Ryan Clark's signature scream underlines this sudden burst of energy, one of many across the album, but definitely the strongest one by far.
While "Outlive" is, undeniably, not a hugely memorable record and has many filler tracks, I feel it served as a stepping stone for Demon Hunter's overall style, as evidenced by similar themes on their latest double-issue "War" and "Peace". I hope they keep exploring similar themes musically, as minimalism in this way has not been yet explored widely in heavy metal.
Such duality lends itself easily to experimentation with new sounds and structures, one of the more interesting examples of which is the 2017 release "Outlive" which put Demon Hunter in a more atmospheric and avant-garde territory compared to their previous albums, making the guitar riffs quiet and subdued and adding piano and synthesizers (not remotely new territory for Demon Hunter) for melody and atmosphere. While neither the most recent nor the best-selling of the band's albums, "Outlive" remains interesting to me as it showcased a whole new side of Demon Hunter's music that had not been seen before and created what could even be a new, if small, niche in melodic metal if it is significantly explored,whether by Demon Hunter themselves or other artists.
I do not have the time to go through the entire album track-by-track, however, I will talk briefly about the singles and the tracks which stood out to me personally.
The album opens with "Trying Times", a satisfying, if short, track drenched in reverb, that showcases Clark's singing vocals in a slower, more atmospheric way than is usually heard on Demon Hunter records. This serves as a great introduction to the album and the atmosphere that will follow.
The second song, "Jesus Wept", is the heaviest of the album, returning, in some aspect, to the metalcore influences of "The World is a Thorn", yet still layering in a touch of the dismal, lonely mood the entire album follows.
"Cold Winter Sun" was the main single released before the rest of album, and it was a deal-breaker for most long-time listeners. The main guitar riff/melody that the song revolves around is composed of single notes and has nothing of the huge, bombastic power chord heaviness of Demon Hunter's past albums, however it is catchier than the other songs on the record, which is where I feel the new 'minimalist' Demon Hunter truly shines.
Similarly, "Patience", the second-to-last track of the record (right before the very unmemorable but fittingly peaceful outro "Slight the Odds"), turns the catchiness levels up to 11. The piano melody is still quite simplistic and ''bleak'', similarly to the other songs of the album, but when it is taken over by guitars, the entire minimalist vibe breaks down in face of epic tremolo picking over power chords, somewhat in the vein of bands like Harakiri for the Sky. Ryan Clark's signature scream underlines this sudden burst of energy, one of many across the album, but definitely the strongest one by far.
While "Outlive" is, undeniably, not a hugely memorable record and has many filler tracks, I feel it served as a stepping stone for Demon Hunter's overall style, as evidenced by similar themes on their latest double-issue "War" and "Peace". I hope they keep exploring similar themes musically, as minimalism in this way has not been yet explored widely in heavy metal.
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