he album Outlive by Demon Hunter is strong. Ordinarily I walk my dog when I review an album; I put on Outlive, I whistle for my dog- Lilly, she comes trotting down, we set out for the park. The opening of this album is so strong that we had hardly started our trek when I found that I was marching in time to the drums of the opening track, “Trying Times”.
This trend continues through the album with one driving song after the other. Lyrically, it reaches deep into faith, at times coming across truly beautiful thoughts, including the memorable line, “We give way to sorrow when the self is all we build, and wake up tomorrow in the blood of who we killed,” from the song “Winter Sun”. The album is well-crafted and expansive, switching from hardcore thrash on “Jesus Wept” to a soft piano intro and a long atmospheric build on “Patience”.
One of the things I particularly liked about the album is that throughout, it was plain that the lead singer, Ryan Clark, had put in serious time and effort to the meaning of what he sang. Outlive continues to showcase not only the band and Clark’s versatility, but also their depth.
It would have been enough to create a truly wide-ranging work that can go from one pole of metal to the other within a few songs while maintaining the same spirit the whole time. It is quite another to take that music and use it as a vehicle for meaningful and soul-searching lyrics that attempt to both reflect and sermonize on the band’s faith. This is yet another jewel in the crown of one of Christian metal’s most celebrated bands.
Rating: 8/10
-William Weinstein