Artist Showcase: Demon Hunter

In this blog post, I decided to showcase that some of you may know, but not all. Demon Hunter is a Christian Metal often considered by critics to be comparable to Slipknot and Killswitch Engage. Lyrically, their music is a mix of cathartic metal ballads, triumphant jams which display general Christian themes, and, sometimes, slightly violent songs that are used to symbolically show how we should flee from Satan and his followers. While I believe that their third motive of lyric writing is very inefficient and make them sound much like their secular counterparts, their other two motives, much like the Underoath ballad that was posted last time, ironically plug into the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost while still jamming out.

1) "Carry Me Down" (Link: http://youtu.be/oD2t1qLJGLQ):
This song is, simply put, a song that would be very appropriate to play at a funeral. The song, while discussing death, lyrically paints a picture of a good and faithful man bidding adieu before he is about to die. Amidst this, it is actually a very uplifting song, because it displays to the listener how, when you stay strong and true to the gospel light, how much of a non-issue it is once you die and enter the spirit world.

2) "I Play Dead" (Link: http://youtu.be/8pYDwNBp4xE):
As said previously, two of the effective ways Demon Hunter, a metal band, taps into the spirit are through encouragement and catharsis. As "Carry Me Down" was the song of encouragement, "I Play Dead" is more of the song that is cathartic. In this song, the lyrics paint of a man who appears to be mortally injured, and they use said picture to show how much sin damages us. The song itself is much a song of repentance, especially the lyrics "Two broken hands left seven wounds, a fight to stand" which paint a picture of the Atonement and, "I won't, I won't leave without a trace. I won't be erased," which paints the picture of not wanting to be in Hell/Outer-Darkness. Finally, it mentions the idea of "playing dead" of those who seem to be well-to-do without repenting or even believing in the gospel, or at other times people who leave the church out of comfort. Nevertheless, it is actually a great song and a powerful one at that.

(Remember: This is only some of DH's songs. If you feel uncomfortable of metal for the lyrical value, don't up and jump into these guys. The more "violent" stuff might be metaphorical, but it's still not comfortable and not very adequate if you want a spiritual jam session)