Demon Hunter: The Triptych Review

Demon Hunter’s early years saw the metal band struggle to find balance between the heavy hardcore components of the genre and the more melodic and artistic touches necessary for a Christian band to gain mass support. With Demon Hunter and the followup Summer Of Darkness, the results were mixed. But with Demon Hunter’s The Triptych, that balance is just short of absolute perfection, with bone-rattling breakdowns aggressive enough to win over any metal or post-hardcore fan supplemented by catchier choruses highlighted by improved and more prominent clean vocals from Ryan Clark. The band’s religious and thematic take-no-prisoners approach to combating evil is at its most artistic with The Triptych, an album that handily proves Christian music has a place in the hardcore metal genre.

Standout Tracks

“Not I” follows the haunting angelic choir intro with an jaw-dropping amount of energy, immediately throwing the gauntlet down for The Triptych. Clark’s heavy metal growls are as intimidating as ever, but his clean vocals are surprisingly melodic and perfectly compliment the hard-hitting verses with a lighter, catchy chorus. Timothy “Yogi” Watts absolutely destroys everything in his path on the drums and Don Clark and Ethan Luck supply blazing riffs to go along with typical guitar-chugging, but Demon Hunter’s talent for writing intelligent and poignant lyrics is also on display as Clark bellows: “The void you suffer is a curse forever bleeding inside / Now you embrace the fatal sickness you should despise / Remember the day you lost that / Where is the shame that will bring your soul back?”

“Undying” gives a better look at Demon Hunter’s newfound ability to better balance the hardcore and melodious aspects of their music, as more fervent and aggressive verses give way to an even more enjoyable and optimistic chorus (“One final heartbreak / And blinding lights will guide our way / Free us our blind state / They will call us by our name). Clark nails the vocals on both sides of the coin, while the whirring guitar riffs and groovy bass hooks of Jon Dunn give the audience a strong urge to nod their heads to this rhythmic rocker.

“One Thousand Apologies” takes the title of best on the album, although that might be debatable since it doesn’t feature hardly any heavy metal breakdowns or screaming. Instead, the whine of the central guitar riff, Watts’ heavy pounding on the drums, a groovy bass riff and Clark’s sullen but mellifluous vocals form the perfect combination of reflective and anxious to give this sing-along rock anthem its feeling and impact.

The Verdict

After two albums struggled to develop a sense of balance between heavy metal and the lighter touches needed to present the more endearing elements of the band’s Christian message, The Triptych finally succeeds in finding the perfect harmony between the two. Ranging from brutal breakdowns to melodic clean vocals, Demon Hunter shows no problem crafting hard-hitting but enjoyable metal masterpieces with an optimistic and sometimes intense message. But balance within songs isn’t the only thing The Triptych gets right, as sentimental and heartfelt ballads like “Deteriorate” and “The Tide Began To Rise” offer variety, making this the first Demon Hunter entry to feel like a true album. The downright wicked breakdowns, feverish guitar riffs and astounding drumming of any metal album are all still intact, as Watts’ ridiculous double bass pedals of “The Soldier’s Song” can testify. But despite the band’s attacking approach to good winning over evil, at the end of the day, Demon Hunter does testify their Christian message. This is why The Triptych‘s balance and variety are such welcome additions, not only from a compositional standpoint, but as thematic enhancers of the optimism and faith behind the creative and colorful lyrics. Fans of Becoming The Archetype, The Devil Wears Prada, August Burns Red, Haste The Day, Project 86, War Of Ages, Disciple and Living Sacrifice should hail The Triptych as the incredible breakthrough it is, not only for Demon Hunter, but for the genre of hardcore Christian music itself.

Final Score: 9.1/10

Track List

1. The Flame That Guides Us Home
2. Not I
3. Undying
4. Relentless Intolerance
5. Deteriorate
6. The Soldier’s Song
7. Fire To My Soul
8. One Thousand Apologies
9. The Science Of Lies
10. Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck
11. Ribcage
12. The Tide Began To Rise

Demon Hunter: True Defiance Review

Demon Hunter is a Christian metal band that takes the concept of religious music to new and aggressive heights with hard-hitting music and ruthless lyrics about defeating evil to back it up. Before you reread that sentence, laugh and change the page, stick it out and reflect on the fact that regardless of lyrical and religious content, this is a band with elite musicianship that makes them a phenomenal metal/hard rock group. With the release of their sixth album, True Defiance, Demon Hunter once again provides metal-heads with possibly their hardest record to date, even if it comes up a bit short of their best work. The mesmerizing guitar riffs, the mind-boggling drumming schemes and the brutally magnificent breakdowns are all still intact on True Defiance, but in making one of the hardest albums in their discography, Demon Hunter sacrificed the harmony between the hard and soft elements in favor of the relentlessly hostile side to make for some bone-rattling metal songs. Although Ryan Clark’s clean vocals have never been as soothing as the singing style of most modern post-hardcore bands, his singing is severely limited in favor of frequent growls screams and bellows that typify the metal genre. This may not seem like a negative, but what made The Triptych and Storm The Gates Of Hell such phenomenal albums was that even though the hard metal elements were prevalent, they were counter-balanced with lighter choruses to create some truly transcendent songs. True Defiance packs the wallop any metal fan can appreciate, but the overemphasis on the harder aspect of the music prevents it from being anything truly exceptional.

Standout Tracks

“Someone To Hate” is a prime example of how wicked Demon Hunter’s breakdowns can be, complete with heavy guitar chugging from Jeremiah Scott and Jon Dunn, frequent double bass pedals from the drums of Timothy Watts, and a breathtaking solo from lead guitarist Patrick Judge. This standout track denounces the influence of the evil one and its lyrics show clear and unadulterated scorn for “all you advocates of hell” and “corrupters of free will,” perfectly displaying Demon Hunter’s attack-evil-and-all-its-influence-with-faith-and-no-mercy approach. Clark’s vocals are flawless here, rapidly changing between appropriately devastating bellows and softer singing for the lighter sections. All in all, this is a perfect example of Demon Hunter’s brutal but religious style of music as the best song on the album.

“We Don’t Care” narrowly misses out on the best-track-of-the-album award with its undeniably infectious guitar riff that gives it true head-bobbing rhythm. Clark delivers his rallying cries in the verses of this metal anthem before proclaiming a catchy but castigating chorus: “Feels like we’ve run out of air / They tear the breath out from out lungs / And we don’t care / Feels like we’ve run out of air / Damnation passed down to our sons / And we don’t care.”

“Dead Flowers” rounds out the album on an emotional and compelling note in typical metal-ballad fashion. Clarks subdued vocals are appropriate in revealing the pain behind losing a loved one but also the beauty of death, as he mourns “Dead flowers for the torn apart / Laid at the grave to heal a broken heart / Let it rain until it floods / Let the sun breathe life once more / Reborn.”

The Verdict

At the very least, True Defiance is yet another solid iteration of the quality metal that Demon Hunter is capable of. While it doesn’t elevate to the memorable heights of The Triptych and Storm The Gates Of Hell, it still provides a terrific new dose of Demon Hunter as a definite step up from their last album, the disappointing The World Is A Thorn. Clark once again displays a knack for livening already brutal tracks with guttural growls and surprisingly polished clean vocals for lighter choruses. Fans of Becoming The Archetype, Haste The Day, Project 86, War Of Ages, Disciple, Living Sacrifice, August Burns Red and The Devil Wears Prada will appreciate this group and their balance between hardcore music and the Christian emphasis. The lyrical content is unparalleled in the world of Christian music, and although the premise of using faith and love to stick it to Satan and evil in the world is a little cheesy, Demon Hunter’s aggressive and ruthless approach in their writing comes off as inspiring and formidable. In fact, the recurring band logo that dons the cover of every Demon Hunter album in some variation is a goat head with a bullet hole in its skull, as the goat head is often associate with Satan and demons, further emphasizing the group’s philosophy of mercilessly conquering evil. The premise seems questionable on paper, but this band has potent lyrics and ridiculous breakdowns to back up this combative mentality. And although True Defiance actually takes the aggressive elements a little too far, it has a number of memorable tracks that make it a satisfactory experience. From the fervent and fast-paced “My Destiny” to the skilled and hard-hitting “This I Know” to the heartfelt and contemplative ballad “Tomorrow Never Comes,” True Defiance is an improvement from Demon Hunter’s last effort and proves once again how hard a Christian metal band can rock.

Final Score: 7.1/10

Rank: 3rd (six total albums)

Track List

1. Crucifix
2. God Forsaken
3. My Destiny
4. Wake
5. Tomorrow Never Comes
6. Someone To Hate
7. This I Know
8. Means To An End
9. We Don’t Care
10. Resistance
11. Dead Flowers