''Demon Hunter'' is the debut album by American

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

band

Demon Hunter Demon Hunter is an American Christian metal band from Seattle, Washington, started in 2000 by brothers Don Clark and Ryan Clark. Although the brothers created the band together, only Ryan remains, since Don left the band to take care of his ...

, released through Solid State in 2002.

Recording

The album was recorded in

Drop C tuning Drop C tuning is an alternative guitar tuning where at least one string has been lowered to a C, but most commonly refers to CGCFAD, which can be described as D tuning with a 6th string dropped to C, or drop D tuning transposed down a whole st ...

. All of Demon Hunter's subsequent releases would be dropped even lower to Drop B.

Industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

vocal elements are also featured in various songs.

Touring and promotion

The band joined

Extol Extol are a Christian metal band from Bekkestua, Norway that was formed in 1993. The band is known for playing a variety of different styles of metal which include progressive metal, death metal, black metal and thrash metal. Over the course ...

on tour in the summer of 2003. Demon Hunter's first single, "Infected," had a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

which debuted on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

's ''Extreme Rock'' and found considerable airplay on

Fuse TV Fuse is an American pay television channel launched in 1994 which was originally dedicated to music. After merging with the Hispanic and Latino Americans, Latino-oriented NuvoTV in 2015, Fuse shifted its focus to general entertainment and lifestyl ...

's ''

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

''. 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 is overcome with extreme panic for ambiguous reasons. He finally falls to the floor after repeatedly typing "help" on his monitor. Given Demon Hunter's overt

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, the video could be seen as people reaching out for a savior in their time of desperation. "Infected" would later be featured on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

'' MTV2 Headbangers Ball''.

Album art and booklet

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 features four 'chapters' of sorts. 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 The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

feel, with the book and everything. Just a way to make the artwork really come alive."

Reception

''Demon Hunter'' received overall positive reviews.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Alex Henderson 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 and noted the album as "imperfect" yet "interesting." Such comments have been echoed in other small-form media reviews. ''Demon Hunter'' has stylistically been compared to Slipknot, particularly in the vocals department, as well as more intense

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

groups.

Track listing

Personnel

Band members * Ryan Clark – lead vocals, guitars * Don Clark – bass guitar *

Jesse Sprinkle Poor Old Lu was a pioneering Christian alternative rock band based in the American Northwest. The band experimented with a variety of sounds and genres, particularly grunge, funk and psychedelic rock. The band consisted of Scott Hunter (vocals), ...

– drums, percussion Production * Aaron Mlasko – drum technician *

Brandon Ebel Brandon Ebel is the founder, president and CEO of Tooth & Nail Records. He founded the label in 1993 in California, United States. The label has since grown to include sub-labels BEC Recordings, Solid State Records and Uprok Records. Ebel has c ...

– executive producer *

Aaron Sprinkle Aaron Sprinkle (born March 20, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer from Seattle, Washington. Career His career in music began in high school with a group called BellBangVilla. BellBangVilla became Poor Old Lu and the ...

– producer * J.R. McNeely – mixing *

Kris McCaddon Kris McCaddon was the second guitarist for the metalcore band, Society's Finest and lead guitarist for Demon Hunter. He was also the vocalist for the bands Embodyment and The Famine. History McCaddon's career started in 1994 when he joined th ...

– photography * Latif Tayour – mixing assistant * Phil Peterson – strings * Tim Harmon – drum engineering * Troy Glessner – mastering * Tyson Paoletti – A&R *

Josh Tillman Joshua Michael Tillman (born May 3, 1981), better known by his stage name Father John Misty, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has also performed and released studio albums under the name J. Tillman. Maintainin ...

– additional drums

References

External links

Demon Hunter - "Infected" music video
{{Authority control Demon Hunter albums 2002 debut albums Solid State Records albums Albums produced by Aaron Sprinkle