The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional (September 9th)For fans of: Progressive rock, rock-opera, symphonic rock (Thrice, The Reign of Kindo)Just one year after having released my AOTY of 2015, The Dear Hunter were set to release the follow-up album and final piece completing the "rock-opera" part of the act series. (Almost) all the material of both Act IV and Act V had been written last year so the biggest amount of effort was already out of the way, but the fact that these were written around the same time definitely shows, Act V seemingly sounding like the darker counterpart of Act IV. At this point we have kind of gotten used to what we can expect from new TDH material, but they still manage to come up with a few slick surprises. The neverending thematic reprises throughout the Act series is something we have come to expect from concept albums, but nonetheless this band manages to do it so smoothly that I am still picking out several reprises after having listened to it for at least 20 times, if not more.
The first time listening through this album was from the CD I bought, which was a pain since the programme installed to my computer does not transition consecutive songs properly. Normally I wouldn't really mind but The Dear Hunter is known for their flawless transitions and moodchanges in a matter of seconds. So I actually decided to hold off until the album came out on Spotify, my first listen through I was not too impressed, a couple of standouts but I didn't really care for any of the more standard Dear Hunter songs. Granted, none of the albums except for Act IV clicked with me after the first time listening. Soon enough, the contagiousness of the opening tracks
Moon/Awake and
Cascade started hitting me, stuff like "Awake" especially being one of the main reasons I love this band so much; they can completely turn around the direction of a song in a matter of seconds and it will still be awesome. I do slightly prefer Cascade because of the awesome chorus and the bombastic ending though.
Then the album continues with a very slow and somber seemingly Pink Floyd influenced song in
The Most Cursed of Hands / Who Am I. The level of simplicity in the musicianship on this track is almost as impressive as the complexity of the song's arrangement and structure. Yet again, we see a sharp left turn in the song's finale in the "Who Am I" section. I am impressed at how certain albums had such strong lead singles and still managed to impress me with the remaining songs, and this one is no different. Say what you want about
The Revival, I think it posesses the best chorus in the history of The Dear Hunter. "Feels so good to be so bad" has this awesome melody to it that made the chorus even catchier than it already was. Not to forget the great middle section that marks this album's overall dark mood.
Melpomene may just be the best ballad the band has done, though personally the tear-enducing
Light hits closer to home so that one edges it out for me. That being said, it's impressive that they just produced my new top 2 ballads on this new album, though they do not do full-on ballads a lot.
Next up is what I consider to be The Bitter Suite IV and V: The Congregation of the Sermon in the Silt's counterpart, even though they do not sound anything alike.
Mr. Usher (On His Way to Town) has this same goofy attitude and feels very authentic. Mind you, this reminded me a lot of Frank Sinatra, especially the first few lines. Anywho, this song is a lof of fun and I am still puzzling through all the crazy piano parts in the background, another example of how The Dear Hunter never gets old.
Transitioning into the very first actual The Dear Hunter duet song, featuring Gavin Castleton who sings the lines of Mr. Usher.
The Haves Have Naught is one of my personal favorites and is apparently being referred to on reddit as their most "Disney-sounding" song.
I can't argue with that, I could easily see a song with this kind of mood and melodies being featured on Sleeping Beauty or something. Already having mentioned Light, I was kind of skeptical about the two-punch of that and
Gloria since I was already familiar with both songs. But both ended up being so so much better on the album, especially following eachother up. Light is the depressing ballad with a slim silver lining to it, and then Gloria is the bombastic anthem being lead up to. The official music video for Gloria was one of the coolest experiences I have had with the band too, I believe it was the first time we actually got to see actors play certain characters of the story, and being able to identify Hunter with a real person is pretty damn satisfying after all this time of wondering. That moment when the soldiers are marching ahead shouting the chorus at the top of their lungs is the most epic moment for sure, goosebumps all over.
Kicking off what I consider the final chapter of the act,
The Flame (Is Gone) and The Fire (Remains) make up for the first real TDH epic to me. They have some very strong long songs but they always start off powerful and then end on a lower note. This one, with all the background info to it, is simply epic beyond words. The first chorus kicks in, and you can just imagine the situation building up to the burning down of the church to the line "DO THE HEAVENS EVER SPARE THE CROPS WHEN THE WINTER FALLS", omg. Having said that, I love the transition into The Fire with the last minute of The Flame introducing us to this old western-ish melody, and Ms. Leading's lines in the first chorus are so powerful. I like how it all works musically as well, since it gives us this slow start and strong finale that the band has become so good at lately.
The March is another fun song musically, if you want to keep that thought, do not go into the story too deeply as you will find that it is nothing but the opposite.
Blood is the aftermath of the things that happened during The March, and makes for a very sinister theatric song that could very well have been a finale to a musical or something like that.
A Beginning is just a mindfuck, I'm a bit clueless as to how it actually came to this but I am guessing that it's like a "this story ends where it begins" situation, being the mother of Hunter? Anyway it is a great closer and much better than "Ouroboros" to me. Captures the sound of the album perfectly too.
Apart from the music itself, I never really bothered to delve into the story that much up until Act V. So much interesting twists and turns and such a dark atmosphere overall that it made me curious about what exactly was happening at every point. There is enough diversity on this album throughout but at the same time sticks to the theme very well. Sometimes I think about how this all started and the thought that Casey knew how the story was going to pan out from the very start, and already had a rough idea of how the musical arrangements were going to be composed just leaves me in awe. This man is a mastermind. My favorite band has managed to release an album that might just be my favorite of theirs. The story, more than ever with TDH albums, immensely enhances the listening experience. So to anyone who has not bothered with it yet I advice you to, anyway. We can only guess how these guys will conclude the act series, the only thing we do know is that it is not going to be in the same format as the previous 5 albums. People have been speculating about a live orchestra and even a movie, all I can say is I will be counting the days until I personally own whatever the hell they will come up with.
Favorite songs: The Most Cursed of Hands / Who Am I, The Flame + The Fire (is this cheating?), The Haves Have Naught, Light, The Revival