The Dear Hunter is one of the most interesting bands I have come across lately. While you can hear elements that connect them with bands ranging from Circa Survive to Alice Cooper to RX Bandits to Coheed & Cambria to The Dresden Dolls to Emery, TDH manage to create something unique on Act III: Life and Death.
A war epic in nature, this album is about as thick and as dynamic as they come. If you are not willing to put a lot of time into listening to this album then you should just skip this review and go find something more to your liking. This takes many listens to even scratch the surface off and is as far from background music as you can get. Act III is and album is a mass of complexity that is contextually tied to its two predecessors. I won’t attempt to get into the specifics (and I’m not sure I fully understand all the intricacies myself) but if you are looking for an album that plays like an opera than this is for you.
Highlights include the Emo/Mariachi masterpiece “In Cauda Venenum,” the Vaudeville fanfare of “The Poison Woman,” and the beautiful end of the journey, “Life and Death.” Overall this is an album that plays like and album so anyone that appreciates that approach to songwriting should run out right now and pick this up.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
