![]() ![]() ![]() The speed and intensity in “Ash” shows the band at its best and unfortunately is the only song of its kind in structure and composition on the album and just around 3 minutes long is also the only one that doesn’t have the clean chorus sections Demon Hunter is famous for. Throughout War, one can’t help but hear influences from the likes of Soilwork, Scar Symmetry and In Flames in some of the heavier, faster tracks like “ On My Side”, “Ash”, and “Lesser Gods”. The main verse sections have the rhythm section of Dunn and Watts literally pounding the listener with the production and mixing making sure the music is felt. “Cut to Fit” starts out with a subdued opening that builds, adding tension before launching into a heavy, pounding riff and Ryan Clark’s vocals sounding even more desperate and ragged on the verse sections but switching nicely to clean for bridge/chorus sections that are punctuated by underlying ragged vocals. War starts out the same way and instantly brings me back to why I originally liked Demon Hunter. I can still remember hearing the opening track from that album “Screams of the Undead” which to me had a bit of the Training for Utopia sound combined with an underlying melody and the clean vocals that were a perfect contrast to the raspy growled and shouted vocals. After that, there were so many rumors about who was in the band beside the Clark brothers and that iconic logo of a demon skull with a bullet hole in it, that I was eagerly anticipating the release of the debut album. Until that point, I had all their albums and was hooked ever since hearing “Through the Black” on a Solid State compilation in early 2002. Similar to their last two albums, Outlive (2017) and Extremist (2014), War and Peace were produced by guitarist Jeremiah Scott and mixed by Zeuss (Rob Zombie, Queensrÿche, Hatebreed), who once again have perfectly captured the band’s metal heaviness that is balanced with the powerful melodies the band is known for.Īdmittedly, I haven’t really paid much attention to Demon Hunter since picking up their Live in Nashville album in 2009 at Cornerstone Festival. ![]() Since 2011, when Jeremiah Scott joined on rhythm guitar, the lineup has been stable and over the course of the band’s history, the guitar roles have been the ones most likely to change, with the lone exception of original drummer Jesse Sprinkle being replaced by Tim “Yogi” Watts in 2004. As one might imagine, the band has gone through some lineup changes over the years, most notably in 2009 when brother Don Clark left the band for family and career reasons. A regular on the Billboard charts, War and Peace were #7 and #8 n the Billboard current albums chart as of March 12, and #2 and #3 in the Hard Rock category. Over the years the band has released 10 albums, won numerous Dove Awards for their music, been featured on soundtracks, become a staple on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball, toured and played shows with some of the biggest bands (Ozzy, Kiss, Marilyn Manson, Gojira), headlined festivals like Rock the Desert and Uprise Fest, and even by 2010 had sold over 500,000 albums. Demon Hunter have simultaneously released two albums of material that divides up their more melodic side from their heavier darker side in the albums War and Peace, both of which are filled with heavy riffs, strong vocals, and catchy hooks and choruses…essentially treating fans to two normal albums of material at once bound by the theme, “War in every breath / Peace in only death.”įor those who haven’t heard of Demon Hunter, the band was formed in 2000 by brothers Ryan and Don Clark who at the time were also in the chaotic Training for Utopia, which is another band worth checking out. ![]()
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