Demon Hunter (album)

The album was recorded in Drop C tuning. All of Demon Hunter's subsequent releases would be dropped even lower to Drop B. Industrial vocal elements are also featured in various songs.

Demon Hunter joined Extol on tour in the summer of 2003.[http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=12241 EXTOL To Release 'Synergy' In August] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040105170237/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=12241 |date=January 5, 2004 }} Blabbermouth.net (May 25, 2003). Retrieved on 7-31-11.

Demon Hunter's material first appeared on This Is Solid State Vol. 3 in February 2002, which included a demo recording of the band's song "Through the Black".{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/this-is-solid-state-vol-3-mw0000217913|title=This Is Solid State Vol. 3 Review|publisher=allmusic.com|access-date= May 25, 2023}} "Through the Black" was later re-recorded for Demon Hunter's self-titled album. The band's first single, "Infected," had a music video which debuted on MTV2's Extreme Rock and found considerable airplay on Fuse TV's Uranium. The intense video revolves around two subjects; one, vocalist Ryan Clark, is shown using an extravagant dagger to carve the word "HELP" into a tree in the pouring rain. The second subject is a white collared man at a desk who, for ambiguous reasons, is overcome with extreme panic. The man finally falls to the floor after typing "help" repeatedly on his keyboard, with the word being shown on a monitor. "Infected" would be featured on the compilation album MTV2 Headbangers Ball in 2003. Demon Hunter was later included on Death, a Destination¹, the band's second compilation album, in 2011.{{cite web |title=Death, a Destination |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/death-a-destination-mw0002103680 |access-date=July 5, 2023 |publisher=allmusic.com}}

The band members are not credited in the album's liner notes. Clark explained this by citing the fact that Demon Hunter's members have been in previous groups and that they wanted the band to initially rely solely on its music. The Demon Hunter booklet has four chapters: "Letters from the Seventh War", "The Red Wasp/The Everlasting Death", "Love and Grace for Fallen Souls", and "The Awakening".{{cite book|title=Demon Hunter liner notes|date=2002|page=1, 5, 9, 13|publisher=Solid State Records}} The first three chapters comprise three tracks each, with the last one consisting only of the last track on the album. When asked about this, Clark responded:

:"It was more an artwork based concept as opposed to a concept pertaining to the music. We wanted to give it an old world feel, with the book and everything. Just a way to make the artwork really come alive."Wayfaerer [http://www.harm.us/interviews/showinterview.cfm?interID=53 Demon Hunter Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726060513/http://www.harm.us/interviews/showinterview.cfm?interID=53 |date=July 26, 2011 }} Harm.us (November 26, 2003).

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = Allmusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web|last=Henderson |first=Alex |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/demon-hunter-mw0000662447 |title=Demon Hunter - Demon Hunter |publisher=AllMusic |date=October 22, 2002 |accessdate=February 13, 2012}}

| rev2 = Cross Rhythms

| rev2Score = {{Rating|7|10}}{{cite journal |last=Binks |first=Andy |title=Demon Hunter - Demon Hunter |date=May 2003 |issue=74 |journal=Cross Rhythms Magazine |publisher=Cross Rhythms |url=http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/products/Demon_Hunter/Demon_Hunter/6946/}}

| rev3 = Jesus Freak Hideout

| rev3Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/cdreviews/DemonHunter.asp |title=Demon Hunter, "Demon Hunter" Review |publisher=Jesusfreakhideout.com |date=October 22, 2002 |accessdate=May 14, 2012}}

}}

Demon Hunter was generally well received. Allmusic's Alex Henderson rated the album three out of five stars. He described it as "an album in which moments of intense brutality are followed by hauntingly melodic passages." He commended the band for its "complementary" use of intensity and melody". CMJ called the album "Christian death metal at its finest", noting that the album is overstuffed with styles, "but that's just the way metalcore kids like it."{{Cite magazine |last=Sciaretto |first=Amy |date=November 4, 2002 |title=Demon Hunter - Demon Hunter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Gk5fgZ2VBoC&pg=PA37 |access-date=January 1, 2025 |magazine=CMJ |page=37 |via=Google Books |volume=73 |issue=787 |issn=0890-0795}} Exclaim!'s Greg Pratt called the album "metalcore at its finest."{{cite web|last=Pratt |first=Greg |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/demon_hunter-demon_hunter |title=Demon Hunter - Demon Hunter • Metal Reviews • |publisher=Exclaim.ca |date= |accessdate=May 14, 2012}} Though he found the album not up to the standard of the band's peers on Solid State, particularly Zao, Norma Jean, and Living Sacrifice, and said that the music was repetitive in places, he wrote that the songwriting keeps things interesting and that " for the teen angst-types looking for something more genuine than whatever the mainstream is pumping out, Demon Hunter will be a good stepping stone to get kids into more underground tunes."

{{Tracklist

| all_writing = Demon Hunter

| title1 = Screams of the Undead

| length1 = 4:34

| title2 = I Have Seen Where It Grows

| length2 = 3:14

| title3 = Infected{{Ref label|hitp|a|a}}

| length3 = 3:08

| title4 = My Throat Is an Open Grave{{Ref label|ud|b|b}}

| length4 = 3:54

| title5 = Through the Black

| length5 = 4:27

| title6 = Turn Your Back and Run

| length6 = 3:46

| title7 = And the Sky Went Red

| length7 = 0:29

| title8 = As We Wept

| length8 = 3:42

| title9 = A Broken Upper Hand

| length9 = 4:28

| title10 = The Gauntlet

| length10 = 6:53

|total_length = 38:39

}}

:{{note label|hp|a|a}} Live recording appears on both 45 Days (2008) and Live in Nashville (2009)

:{{note label|ud|b|b}} Re-recorded for Songs of Death and Resurrection (2021)

Band members

• Ryan Clark – lead vocals, guitars
• Don Clark – bass guitar
• Jesse Sprinkle – drums, percussion

Production

• Brandon Ebel – executive producer
• Aaron Sprinkle – producer, additional guitars
• Demon Hunter – producer
• J.R. McNeely – mixing at The Greenhouse (Vancouver)
• Latif Tayour – mixing assistant
• Asterik Studio – art direction, design (Seattle)
• Kris McCaddon – photography
• Phil Peterson – strings
• Tim Harmon – drum engineering at Spectre South (Tacoma)
• Aaron Mlasko – drum technician
• Troy Glessner – mastering at Spectre North
• Tyson Paoletti – A&R
• Josh Tillman – additional drums{{cite web|url=https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/music/father-john-misty/|title=Father John Misty|date=August 10, 2017|publisher=|accessdate=June 27, 2019}}

• "Infected" was featured on the Killing Floor 2 soundtrack in 2015.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/killing-floor-2-mw0002832573|title=Killing Floor 2 Original Video Game Soundtrack|publisher=allmusic.com|access-date=May 25, 2023}}

^1.Death, a Destination also includes the studio albums Summer of Darkness (2004) and The Triptych (2005).

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zFC6tv667c Demon Hunter - "Infected" music video]

{{Demon Hunter}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Demon Hunter albums

Category:2002 debut albums

Category:Solid State Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Aaron Sprinkle