
I live again!
-- Hunter --
18/05/2019
Stijn Daneels

Album genres:
■ | heavy metal |
Album artists:
■ | David Walgrave | Vocals |
■ | Joost Vlasschaert | Guitar |
■ | Thomas Abeel | Guitar |
■ | Jeroen Wauters | Bass |
■ | Dries Deturck | Drums |
Review written by Stijn "Metal Shredder" Daneels.
[METAL SHREDDER REPORTING]
Somewhere
in 2018 I was contacted by Hunter’s vocalist David to check out his band by
listening to the music video of the song No Man’s Land and I liked it a lot.
Finally, in December that year I saw Hunter on the first edition of Pluto Metal
Fest and that made me like Hunter a hell of a lot more, so much in fact that I
didn’t need much consideration to vote them to the finals of this year’s Wacken
Metal Battle Belgium and now to check out their first album. Thank you Hard
Life Promotion for sending me this! Now, let the shredding begin, again!
[SHREDDING BASICS]
Hunter is
the self-titled, independent debut album from the Belgian heavy metal band Hunter,
formed in 2016 and consisting of former members from acts like Megasonic,
Everglow, Monster Joe and Crusader. Members who, according to Hunter’s official
website, all have accumulated over 20 years of band experience. And given the
high quality on display in this debut, I think this statement is pretty legit.
Hunter’s
main inspirations directly come from classic 1980s metal acts such as Judas
Priest, Iron Maiden, Metal Church and Omen. So you can expect a smoothly paced,
bass-heavy sound and solid drum lines built over with sharp riffs and catchy
vocals. Aside from Jeroen’s groovy bass and Dries’s pounding beats, the real show
stealers on Hunter’s first iteration are the twin guitars from Joost and Thomas
and the large vocal range from David.
Like the
legends that have inspired them, Joost and Thomas offer each song a set of extensive
soaring guitar solos that just hearken back to the classic Iron Maiden and
Judas Priest albums, it’s just beautiful. And David’s vocals range from soprano
to guttural and everything in between. Like everyone else on the album, he
takes his cues from singers who made their biggest marks in the 1980s such as
Halford, Dickinson and Byford. David has a compelling, story-telling voice with
a naturally high but slightly edgy tone that fits perfectly with Hunter’s dark cinematic
atmosphere. Very good stuff all things considered!
[SHREDDING VISION]
The band’s
mascot, the eponymous hunter, is posing proudly on the front cover, wearing
dual machetes and having a devilish smile on his skull face. In fact, he
reminds me a lot of Caleb, the bloodthirsty anti-hero protagonist from the cult
shooter game franchise “Blood” (check out this game’s recent “Blood Fresh
Supply” remaster on Steam or GOG in case you don’t know what this awesome FPS
is all about). Just don’t see a lot of bands nowadays having true mascots
(Teefus from Belgian thrash act Sulfeet is another modern metal mascot example)
and I kind of wish that more bands would create some symbolic character to help
them stand out visually.
The themes
on Hunter’s debut are mainly dark in nature, with songs dealing about stuff
like a demonic apocalypse, dystopian future worlds, World War I and Jack the
Ripper. However, most of the tracks are played in an overall uplifting tone,
thus making the dark subject matter much easier to swallow and that also gives
certain songs a smart two-faced feel. Such as the two tunes I’m mentioning in
the next chapter.
[SHRAPEST SHREDS & BLUNTEST BLADES]
The epic “Here
Comes The Night” is one of the catchiest songs on the Hunter album and I’m sure
the song’s chorus will remain stuck inside your head for a good long time. And
another fun thing about this song is that the energetic riffs deceivingly mask
the song’s gruesome lyrics which feature references to vampirism, cannibalism
and serial killing. And another top tune for me is “No Man’s Land,” thanks to
this track having bass lines so groovy that it would make Steve Harris proud! Aside
from that this song has an atmosphere that’s both joyful and tragic. It has a
marching rhythm, representing the countless young soldiers heading off towards
the battlefields looking to kick ass and seek glory only to discover death and
misery, represented by this song’s occasional moody slowdowns.
“The Night
Of The Black Rose” is my least favorite tune on the release. Clocking in at
5:30 minutes, this is the longest song on the album and while it has some nice
melodies and a fun high fantasy narrative, the song’s length and sometimes painfully slow
pace both don’t do Hunter any justice. Hunter is at their best when their
guitar riffs soar through galloped along by tightly played rhythms. But hey, a
band’s got to try and learn. And this band has already learned a lot about
old-school shredding, so this debut gets a great…
[SHREDDER SCORECARD]
8 rippers out
of 10. Hunter provides an excellent throwback to the classic, all kills no
frills metal from over thirty years past. If you’re looking for some freshly
made material that carries similar vibes as the likes of Priest, Maiden or Dio
then you can’t go wrong joining these five guys for the hunt! Here’s the music
video for “Then Comes The Night!"