ACT I: THE LAKE SOUTH, THE RIVER NORTH

When talking about The Dear Hunter, there's almost no way to avoid mentioning their 6 act concept album and the way Casey Crescenzo weaves his narrative through the music in a way that puts the 2 elements at a far closer level than say, Coheed and Cambria, who quite clearly prioritise writing a song before trying to incorporate story elements into it. To be fair, the approach that The Dear Hunter takes is one that could really easily fall completely flat, feeling more like sacrificing songwriting to attempt to hamfistedly tell a story, which ends up adding to this band's appeal even more once it becomes clear how successfully they managed to meld these. That's not to say that this album is perfect however, as this is a bit rough around the edges in certain respects and definitely feels like Casey was still finding his feet a bit with his songwriting at points. Despite this however, I find a lot of these rougher elements to be quite interesting in their own ways, especially the way that this incorporated considerably more post-hardcore and indie rock elements into its progressive rock sound compared to all of their other work , making it quite unique in the grand scheme of their discography.

The album starts off with an a capella that immediately establishes the dramatic nature of the album, along with Casey's absolutely excellent vocals, all in all, the track doesn't really do too much, but sets the tone of the album excellently regardless. The Lake South similarly serves the purpose of establishing the sound of the album, but this time the instrumental side of things, with lush orchestrations evoking vivid imagery with an almost showtune-esque vibe to it, which I personally like quite a bit, and the way it leads into the first proper track, City Escape is executed quite well. City Escape is the first proper song on the album, and definitely kicks things off with a bang, with a fast paced riff that's extremely reminiscent of The Mars Volta causing the intensity to rise dramatically. Even here it becomes quite clear how detailed a lot of these compositions are, with a lot of different elements working together to craft a really entertaining sound, with hints of piano and backing vocals further cementing the dramatic nature of the band. I also appreciate Casey's vocals here quite a lot, especially during the more climactic moments where he puts on a harsher vocal delivery. The Inquiry of Ms Terri takes things in a more subdued direction while also being far more dynamic overall, starting off quite pleasantly and building up to a bombastic chorus, slowly adding more elements until it all explodes with a distorted guitar riff and his harsher vocals once again. The song continues to escalate in such a way, with each time the chorus comes in being more intense than the last, with the rest of the song doing similarly.

While 1878 is the longest song here, it's also funnily enough the one that I feel has the least going on, with the main positive trait of it being the excellent, at points almost dreamy atmosphere, with the really gorgeous piano melodies in particular evoking some very vivid imagery. A bit of a shame that the song itself ends up being somewhat repetitive, because this one definitely had the potential to be a masterpiece. Pimp and the Priest is what I consider to be the best song here, doubling down on the orchestral side of things and bringing in the brass instruments as well to make for what's essentially the theme of the villain of this concept album series. There's a certain swagger to the song that I absolutely love, and the song is just all around so entertaining, sounding both extremely sinister, yet fun and lighthearted at the same time, can't express enough how much I love this song and the way that it embodies the band and all their theatrics. His Hands Matched His Tongue closes off the album remarkably well, starting off very softly with some acoustic guitar and a more melancholic tone, spending the majority of the length of the song just building up to an incredibly intense, climactic and emotionally charged end to the album.

While a bit rough around the edges with some minor things, notably occasionally carrying an idea for slightly too long, leading to a few sections that can feel a bit off, I still find this to be a remarkably crafted album that planted the seeds for the band's later, more well realised and refined albums. The way it so perfectly balances between narrative and music, with each component serving to elevate the other is truly impressive to me, and gives the album, and band as a whole quite a lot of charm. This is a great album and one that I'd heavily recommend to those who enjoy other modern prog bands that incorporate indie and alternative rock into their sound such as The Mars Volta or Coheed and Cambria in particular, and the band would almost only get better from here.

Best tracks: City Escape, The Pimp and the Priest

Weakest tracks: 1878