Demon Hunter

Demon Hunter is a Christian metalcore band from Seattle, Washington started by brothers Don and Ryan Clark. Demon Hunter are outspokenly Christian and express their faith in most of their songs.

This band is seen as to be the best by many young teen rockers. Demon Hunter has many different musical influences including such metal staples as Sepultura, and Machine Head. These influences are evident in the more aggressive, traditional metal instrumental and vocal parts of their music. Their vocal style has also been compared to the band Slipknot's because of vocalist Ryan Clark's growling, rap-like delivery.[1] The more melodic moments in their music can easily be compared to the "softer" side of bands like Killswitch Engage or As I Lay Dying.

Demon Hunter was named 1 of 10 "Artists To Watch" by AOL Music and has gotten rave reviews in Revolver, Outburn and Decibel.

History

Their first release, entitled simply "Demon Hunter," was released in October 2002 on Tooth and Nail Records subsidiary Solid State Records, and featured both Don and Ryan Clark on guitar and bass, Ryan as lead vocalist, and Jesse Sprinkle as drummer; it was produced by Jesse's brother Aaron Sprinkle.

At first the members of the band chose to hide their identities, creating some controversy. However, their names were later revealed when they undertook their first tour, which featured Norwegian Christian metal heavyweights Extol and death influenced metalcore youngbloods The Agony Scene, and saw the permanent adding of Jesse Sprinkle on drums, Jon Dunn on bass, and Kris McCaddon, formerly of Embodyment, on lead guitar.

After two years that saw Don's wife giving birth to a daughter and Ryan getting married, Demon Hunter returned to the studio to record their second full-length release, Summer of Darkness, with McCaddon contributing, and again with Jesse drumming. Summer of Darkness hit stores on May 4th, 2004, and was a huge success, propelling Demon Hunter into the secular scene with the addition of the music video "Not Ready to Die" on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball and Fuse TV, along with single "My Heartstrings Come Undone" being placed on the Resident Evil: Apocalypse movie soundtrack. The album featured four guest vocalists, including Brock Lindow of 36 Crazyfists on "Beauty Through The Eyes Of A Predator", Howard Jones from Killswitch Engage on "Our Faces Fall Apart" and Trevor McNevan of Thousand Foot Krutch on "Coffin Builder."

Demon Hunter hit the road that summer, with McCaddon on lead and Dunn on bass, and with new touring drummer Tim "Yogi" Watts, as Jesse Sprinkle couldn't make the tour. This time Demon Hunter took with them rock/post-hardcore rookies Dead Poetic, along with metalcore headbangers Haste the Day.

In 2005, Demon Hunter went back to The Compound in Seattle, Washington to record their third album, entitled The Triptych. The word "triptych" centers around the concept of three, as it was the band's third album. The CD gave another bow to great bands of the past, such as Living Sacrifice, Sepultura, and Pantera. Included on the album is a cover of Prong's song "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck". This album debuted Watts as Jesse's permanent replacement on drums -- Jesse having joined Dead Poetic -- as well as the addition of Ethan Luck (The O.C. Supertones {Guitar}, The Dingees {Drums}) as lead guitarist, replacing Kris McCaddon. The Triptych was even bigger than Summer of Darkness, selling more than twice as many records on its first week of release than Summer of Darkness had. "Undying" was the band's first single from this album, and was also made into a video, directed by Chris Sims (As I Lay Dying, Lamb of God, Zao).

Demon Hunter's only 2006 tour took place over the summer with Zao, Becoming the Archetype, August Burns Red, and Spoken. The band shot a video for "One Thousand Apologies" after the tour was over with acclaimed director Darren Doane at the helm. The Triptych was re-released on October 31, 2006 with a DVD accompanying the album and four extra songs added to the original album.

Members

• Ryan Clark - vocals (Former guitarist for Focal Point, vocalist for Training for Utopia)
• Jon Dunn - bass (A&R, Manager of Licensing and Publishing at Tooth & Nail Records)
• Don Clark - guitar (Former guitarist for Training for Utopia)
• Ethan Luck - guitar (Former guitarist for The O.C. Supertones, former drummer for The Dingees, current vocalist/guitarist for My Red Hot Nightmare)
• Timothy "Yogi" Watts - drums (Also currently in The Lonely Hearts)

Former members

• Jesse Sprinkle - drums (Former drummer for Poor Old Lu and Serene, current drummer for Dead Poetic, also currently in A Cold Vein)
• Kris McCaddon - guitar (Former vocalist for Embodyment, guitarist for Society's Finest)

Discography

Full-Lengths

• Demon Hunter, 2002 (Solid State)
• Summer of Darkness, 2004 (Solid State)
• The Triptych, 2005 (Solid State)
• The Triptych (Deluxe Edition), October 31, 2006 (Solid State)

Singles

• Infected, from Demon Hunter 2002 (Solid State)
• Not Ready to Die from Summer of Darkness 2004 (Solid State)
• My Heartstrings Come Undone from Summer of Darkness 2004 (Solid State)
• Undying from The Triptych, 2005 (Solid State)
• One Thousand Apologies from The Triptych, 2006 (Solid State)
• Not I from The Triptych, 2006 (Solid State)

External links

• Demon Hunter
• Solid State Records
• The Third War (Promotion website about The Triptych)
• Asterik Studio (Design Firm started by Ryan and Don in 2000)
• The Gauntlet (Fansite)
• Demon Hunter at Firestream.net
• DanielsMusic.com Photos from Los Angeles show (DVD filmed that night for Triptych re-release)
• Demon Hunter on Pure Volume
• Demon Hunter on MySpace