Demon Hunter: Summer of Darkness

Demon Hunter took the world by storm two years ago with their nu metal slaying. Before their first album released, they had enjoyed more hype than most bands recieve during a lifetime. Early in the band's formulative stage they kept the band members a secret, only letting out that most of them were known from previous Solid State Records hardcore/metal groups. From that moment the internet message boards were alight with speculation.

The truth finally came out that the band contained the Clark Brothers from Training For Utopia, Jesse Sprinkle (not to mention the production help of from his brother, Aaron) from Poor Old Lu, a bass player from Tooth and Nail Record's staff, and the old vocalist from Embodyment.

The first cd was met with mixed reviews. The first half were people who just didn't like nu metal. So they didn't like the cd. The other half were people who didn't hate nu metal, and enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the first cd for a while but grew weary of the slick production. "Summer of Darkness" unfortunately does not improve that. It definately picks up where the self titled debut album left off. Thanks to this slick, clean production it gets too easy for all the tracks to feel like the same song.

Thankfully there are a couple of precautions thrown into the mix to prevent this. Demon Hunter enlisted the help of four guest vocalists for four of the songs. Mike Willians of The Agony Scene, Trevor McNevan of Thousand Foot Krutch, Brock Lindew of 36 Crazyfists, and Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage. Also, there are several standout tracks that had me nodding my head.

The best part of the cd is not the music, but the artwork. The cover is like a cross between the last Deftones album and the first Demon Hunter album. It works really well. The back cover features a picture of the band, dressed like workers from the 1800s. They could be loggers, or miners, but they are sweaty and caked with grime in overalls and large tools. Once inside the cd, the rear of a hearse with the licence plate "DMNHNTR" greets the purchaser's eyes. The hearse motif is repeated several times within the booklet.

If you are a fan of the first album and are looking forward to more of the same, find a copy of this. Other wise find a way to listen to it first to see if it's something worth your $16.

Article Author: The Theory

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