Demon Hunter - The World Is a Thorn
Rating
RIYL
Killswitch EngageLiving Sacrifice
Soul Embraced
Release Date
03/09/2010
Label
Solid StateTracklist
1. Descending Upon Us2. LifeWar
3. Collapsing
4. This Is The Line
5. Driving Nails
6. The World Is A Thorn
7. Tie This Around Your Neck
8. Just Breathe
9. Shallow Water
10. Feel As Though You Could
11. Blood In The Tears
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It’s hard to imagine that this is Demon Hunter’s fifth studio album. It doesn’t seem like it’s really been 8 years, does it? Toss in a couple of live releases in that same time frame and you’ll see that Demon Hunter have been quite the busy group, but through it all the band has managed to keep a relatively consistent core sound. Their mix of nu-metal, metalcore, soaring melodies, addictive hooks, and heavy riffs has created a number of memorable songs… that is until they put out Storm the Gates of Hell, which was easily the band’s weakest effort. They had softened up too much, dumbed themselves down, and lost most of the edge they previously had. On The World Is a Thorn, however, the band has managed to recapture some of their older aggression and heaviness, and in the process didn’t forget about keeping things catchy.
Let’s be frank right off the bat; this album has problems. It’s definitely better than Storm the Gates of Hell, but it is still weaker than the band’s first three albums for a couple of key reasons—pacing and songwriting. The order of the songs on the album is odd, to say the least. “Descending Upon Us” is a great start to the album and establishes the return to their earlier career form, but then you have the oddly placed sub-two minute “Lifewar” as the second track. This song is easily the worst that the band has ever written and is completely pointless. It should have been a b-side, if not left on the cutting room floor completely. Then you have “Collapsing”, the band’s first single which leads into “This Is the Line”, another weak track that drags before you get to “Driving Nails”, a ballad. From that point on the pacing is much better, but the first chunk of the album is all over the place.
The other issue I mentioned was the songwriting. With this album, both Don Clark and Ethan Luck (the band’s guitarists) left to pursue other endeavors so it was obvious there would be a change, but the change came in a way that was unexpected. The band still “sounds” like Demon Hunter; there was no deviation from their "sound" and you’ll recognize the band instantly, but there are moments in some songs where, despite the return to a heavier approach, they don't appear quite as sharp. It’s not obvious, but if you listen to any of the songs on this album interspersed with tracks from their self titled album or Summer of Darkness you’ll hear some differences.
Beyond those issues, this is actually a pretty solid melodic metal album. “Collapsing” is probably one of the best singles the band has put out—it’s melodic, it’s catchy (trust me, you’ll have it stuck in your head for days), it has a nice contribution from Bjorn Strid of Soilwork, and, quite simply, it rocks. “Driving Nails” is one of the band’s better ballads containing a nicely layered sound. And that's without even mentioning the second half of the album.
Starting with “The World Is a Thorn”, Demon Hunter throws down five heavy tracks (a couple which rarely utilize any melody) showing that the band still has the ability to play aggressive music. “Just Breathe”, featuring guest vocals from Christian Alvestam (Miseration, Scar Symmetry), may be the most outright aggressive track the band has written. It is four minutes of punching you in the face and slamming into your ears the fury that the band so desperately lacked on Storm the Gates of Hell.
Ultimately, The World Is a Thorn is an album full of peaks and valleys. There are some truly bad songs to be found (“Lifewar” and “This Is the Line” for example), but then you have some of the highest quality stuff the band has put out in some time (such as “Collapsing” and “Just Breathe”). Considering that Demon Hunter has lasted for 8+ years and 5+ albums, I’m confident that we’ll be hearing even more from them in the future, and if they can harness the best moments of this album while cutting out the crap, then we could have a career defining album. For now, though, at least we know the band is back on the right track.
--Rick Gebhardt
Comments
Washington, DC
This band has always been extremely underwhelming, especially considering their pedigree(s). This album sounds no better.
"Standing still is where we've gone wrong" - The dingees
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Infinitely Inwards
This is rough album. The only thing that makes me not hate this, is Christian Alvestam guest stars on one of the tracks. Even he can't save this.
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Baton Rouge
I agree with the 3.5 score, and for the most part, this review (I actually thought LifeWar was a nice change of pace). As for career defining album, I think that was possibly Summer of Darkness. I feel like lyrically the band has kind of drifted away from the more me-against-me songs found on that album(facing personal, metaphorical demons), to more of a me-against-the world POV. I kind of miss the old attitude. I'm glad they continue to switch up members, though. That was one of the band's original mission statements.
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/
Green Brook, NJ
this band always has at least 1 amazing song on each of their records. "collapsing" is one of them. the rest, i can do without.