WHAT DO YOU GOYIM THINK OF DEMON HUNTER?
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 10:00am by Vince NeilsteinAxl and I have never been partial to Demon Hunter (with one exception), in no small part because, well… news flash, we’re Jewish. But the fact that this band sits atop the Christian metalcore pantheon with legions of devoted followers is not lost on us. In all fairness, it is entirely possible that they’ve got some pretty decent music beneath all that Jebus rhetoric and we just don’t know it (although we ignorantly doubt this to be the case). Since they released the triple-disc set 45 Days yesterday, I figure that’s as good an excuse as any to open up the floor for debate. Here’s the live video for “Lead Us Home” (to Israel?) from that album. Have at it.
-VN
hey. there’s the fat kid from the Dimmu Borgir video!
inferior to Training for Utopia in every way.
I’ve always had a love/hate sort of relationship with Demon Hunter. Some of their songs are enjoyable metalcore, and some of them seem so dull. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been able to pick out there songs though. Not that I could tell you fo rthe life of me what’s unique about them.
I own The Tryptych and Storm the Gates of Hell both of which are solid albums. I am not a Christian fanatic by any means and havnt stepped foot in a church in years but musically I enjoy their albums. The Tryptych has a some real good songs worth repeated listens. I agree with Eric that some of the songs are kinda ehh. I am def going to pick up 45 days though as im curious for a band that never goes on tour how they sound live.
I am a fan of Demon Hunter and I own all four of their albums. All four albums have some decent songs and some that are just ‘meh’, though I just have to say their second album ‘Summer of Darkness’ is way too long and should probably have two or three of the ‘meh’ songs shaved off. I can never sit through that whole record all the way through.
the band is alright, they have never really impressed me that much, with the exception of a song that was on a soundtrack that caught my ear [Freddy vs. Jason, i think]. the music is fair but i am not sure how Jebus Crispy it is, as i have not listened that closely.
one thing can be noted that gives them credence… BEARDS.
Meh.
This band is fucking awful.
That could have been really good, but they cut it to early. What that song needs is a couple of choruses at the end there, come on now “Lead us; hoooooooooooomo eh, eee”!
These guys are okay.
ZAO, on the other hand, spanks the ever-Jesus-loving shit out of these guys.
I give as much of a shit about the fact that they are Christian as I do about the fact that the Metalsucks guys are Jewish. Who the fuck cares???
bigots.
Apparently Christian metal isn’t kosher. Is there such a thing as Jewish metal?
I could never tell one DH song from another.
@ClosetMetalHead
Orphaned Land be Jewish. Probably.
Anyway, I’ve loved DH for ever, but I’ve watched the quality of their albums go down significantly. The s/t debut was interesting, I think they peaked at Summer of Darkness which was phenomenal, and have been slowly sliding down into mediocrity ever since. I still have a soft spot for them as they were one of my first metal (debatable but beside the point) groups ever. My sibs and I have decided that the heaviness/awesomeness has to do with the length and neatness of Ryan Clark’s beard. If he lets it go wild again, they’ll start returning to quality work.
Am I seriously the only person who knows Training for Utopia?? Inconceivable!
Screw this band, get on the Becoming the Archetype bandwagon.
And just because your Jewish means you can’t overlook some Christian references? these dudes have a LOT of fans who aren’t really Christian in any way, but like them all the same.
these guys don’t always write the greatest stuff, but they can fuckin write great songs most of the time.
i.m.o, their albums rank such as this from best to worst. ahem.
1. Summer of Darkness
2.*tie* S/t, and Storm the Gates
3. the Triptych. (save for “Undying” & “Soldier’s Song”
I’m really hoping Vince is joking about the “We don’t like them because we’re jewish” thing.
Other than that, I’ve always enjoyed Demon Hunter. I’ve never understood the thought process behind putting a bands religious beliefs before their music. I really couldn’t give a rat’s ass. I’ve never found them preachy and they write some good riffs.
@lern2swim:
exactly. yet some people still blindly hate them cause of the Christian inflection of their lyrics.
If your Christian, and you find inpiration and or hope in their message, great.
if your not, but you really dig the music, great.
but it’s about the songs. it really doesn’t matter what genre they’re tagged to, just ask yourself , “Did I enjoy the songs? Is it album buying worthy, or even just show-seeing worthy?” if you answered yes, then don’t be ashamed to like it. and don’t not listen to it because it would hurt your so-called “br00tal” cred.
no bigotry here. i don’t think religion has any place in music (with the obvious exceptions of gospel, etc.) but especially not in fucking metal. fuck “new interpretations” of an artistic style that if anything was built on and inspired by anti-religious sentiment. too bad demon hunter sucks all kinds of balls, jc’s or anyone else’s.
This may surprise anyone reading this but I’m a DH fan. I like that at least on their first 3 albums they didn’t preach. They were a band that started as 4 or 5 dudes in a metal band that happened to be christian and kinda wrote from that perspective. Their last album Storming the Gates of Hell got a little preachy at times but had some solid good songs.
@hackman — There are plenty of proclaimed satanists that are fully accepted by the metal community. I think all religion is retarded, that includes satanism too. Just a “can’t have one without the other” for me. And lastly I always thought of metal as the most diverse accepting group of any music so I can’t be so hypocritical as to cut christians out as long as they aren’t trying to convert all us heathens.
Metalcore is the worst thing to happen in the world of metal alongside with the emo crap where it was always “Dude looks like a lady”.
I don’t care if you are singing for Jesus or against him, metalcore sucks donkey balls.
Bring me the old school Obituary “Slowly we rot” or Carcass or some good ol’ thrash. NYHC or HC for that matter still kicks ass.
Metalcore is for the posers, by the posers.
Suck on metalcore fans suck on!
I am a Christian and listen to and enjoy all forms of metal (except power metal)… sometimes even black metal. I think it’s great that people feel convicted enough to write about their beliefs through their art, non-secular or secular. Also, to reiterate what a previous post stated, ‘Everyone needs to jump on the Becoming the Archetype’ wagon’. Those guys slay!!! Their new record just came out yesterday and it is phenomenal!!!
I’m watching the Live in Nashville portion of the DVD now, and it is pretty electrifying. The live DVD they included with the Triptych special edition was fucking horrendous and I understood why these guys never tour. But this new DVD is really fucking good!
ZAO is the best!
It’s funny, though not surprising, that most people here are taking the really easy route of “Lets all be friends. Religion and politics shouldn’t matter. Beliefs shouldn’t matter. Lets not offend anyone”.
To that all I have to say is BULL. There is something far more genuine and real about christians hating the messages in satanic/pagan/atheistic music and satanists/pagans/atheists wanting to gag on their own vomit rather than listen to kissing Jesus butt music.
Don’t listen to Extol:Undeceived then, which is one of the best albums I’ve got, and yeah it happens to be Jesus lovin’ metal, but if I can go from that to listening to Orphaned Land and then later on some good ol’ satan worshipping black metal, then I’m sure you can listen to ONE fucking christian band, I mean ffs, you aren’t going to get goyim cooties, anyway having said that, I pinched a demon hunter album online a while back, I’ve since lost it and haven’t bothered to get another copy, so it couldn’t have been that great.