Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
The Dear Hunter - Act I: The Lake South, The River North CD (album) cover

ACT I: THE LAKE SOUTH, THE RIVER NORTH

The Dear Hunter

 

Crossover Prog

4.06 | 343 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
5 stars An impressive EP by a punk-rocker turned progger .!

What would your first reaction when you are told a band name that you never heard before by your prog friend? Obviously, you might ask "how the music sound like? Is it something like legendary prog bands, or modern prog like in the vein of progressive metal?". If none of that category pops up, you might start wondering: how would this new band would then be classified? That's exactly what happened to me because I was not informed at all on which vein the new band is coming from. I was only told that previously it's a punk band. What???? It struck me as I was there when punk and new wave killed prog rock at the end of 70s or beginning of 80s. And now I am hearing a new prog band which was originally a punk band? Give me a break!

So I started searching the net to order the CD and I found two albums whereby the first album was priced relatively cheap at amazon. Once the CD arrived home, I opened the jewel case and read the details about the album and found out that it's a bout a story of aboy from his creation to his untimely end, the beautifully rapturous, to the truly tragic. Oh .. what a compelling statement! So I spun the CD with a very high curiosity to know the kind of music this epic by The Dear Hunter is all about. Oh my God .. it blew me away at first spin with 100% acceptance level, indicating that this kind of music matches my blood category! Yeaaaahh ..!!!

The more I spin the CD it grows on me and, in fact, when I met my prog friends on an event we call it as ProgRing (progressive gathering) conducted yesterday, I played the CD of this album to the 15 people crowd of my prog friends. It impressed them at first spin as I experienced the first time. I then did some research on the net with the help of Dr. Google. I found out that the mastermind of this band, Casey Crescenzo, was previously a major contributing member of a punk band called as The Receiving End of Sirens (TREOS) whom during the recording of the album started to put some ideas for side project he called as THE DEAR HUNTER (what a name!). What previously regarded as side project was then became a primary focus for Casey.

Let's have a look the album in details .

"Battesimo Del Fuoco" (1:56) (as I learned, this is basically Italian "baptized by fire") opens the album brilliantly with a powerful aca pella led by Casey's voice in heavy and low register notes backed by beautiful choir. Practically, there is no other instrument being used and it creates great nuance for an intro of a great epic. "The Lake South" (1:43) resembles a music for an opera or a circus that depicts the opening of an act. The composition is basically using string plus brass section, while piano provides some magical notes bringing the music into great nuance.

"City Escape" (5:56) continues the music seamlessly with a blast of very energetic music in the vein of The Mars Volta combined with A.C.T kind of music. This track really makes my pulse running faster than the usual rate. It's so powerful and so dynamic. It flows brilliantly with many changing tempos and styles like accompanying certain act of the drama. At approximately minute 2:26 the music is turning down in spacey mood followed by blast of music with great vocal by Casey. What's so powerful is when the music enters approx minute 3:11 when it has different kind of style using percussion (tabla) with eastern style music augmented nicely by piano work. Oh my God .. this part is truly great! The entire track of "City Escape" is a masterpiece and it represents a true prog music of modern times!!!

"The Inquiry of Ms. Terri" (5:56) brings the music into a slower tempo with ambient style augmented brilliantly by bass guitar lines and wonderful vocal which in a way reminds me to the like of Radiohead. Oh yeah, the dragging vocal reminds me to Radiohead. But it finishes at minute 1:50 when the music blast off abrasively with aggressive vocal of Casey in the vein of The Mars Volta. Oh the vocal quality of Casey is top notch! "1878" (7:02) cools the music down through a steady acoustic guitar work at the intro part, even though as the music flows there are parts with toned up music. "The Pimp and The Priest" (6:00) uses trumpet like in jazz music but I consider this track is like the music in circus show. It confirms that the music of The Dear Hunter is an operatic. The composition is truly excellent as the melody flows smoothly the percussion at background augmented by brass section have made the music so solid as well as dynamic.

If "His Hands Matched His Tongue" (6:00) is played alone without being positioned in the whole epic, this does not sound interesting for my interest as it's too mellow at the beginning part. However, I still admit the power of Casey vocal has made this song. The guitar parts may sound boring, but not the overall music, especially when it's combined as a whole epic. "The River North" (4:03) is an ending with a minimum instruments usage but piano / keyboard.

Conclusion

Even though on track by track basis I do not quite favor track 7, I look this album as the whole epic which I think that this is a masterpiece epic that I have ever heard. It's beautifully composed, combining energy, drive, melodic notes and instruments virtuosities for those involved with the album. The music of The Dear Hunter can be considered as Operatic Progressive Rock; a new category that should be created, I believe. For sure, this is a concept EP. Overall rating is 4.75 of 5. Keep on proggin' .!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Gatot | 5/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this THE DEAR HUNTER review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.