Year : 2021
Style : Progressive Heavy Metal , Power Metal
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + front
Size : 114 mb
Bio:
Hunted are a UK-based quartet who over the last twenty years have moulded their take on heavy metal into exactly what they want it to be ─ without constraints and true to their influences, capturing elements of traditional heavy metal, power metal, thrash metal and a dash of progressive metal.The UK’s Hunted have been known since their inception in South Wales in the early 2000s for making music that straddles many different branches of the Metal tree. Starting out covering their heroes in Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Metallica, they soon progressed to composing and performing music that took in a wider field of influences from bands like Blind Guardian, Dream Theater and Nevermore. After the departure of original singer John Coles, the addition of experienced vocalist Chris G added new dimensions to the foundational line-up of Jon Letson (bass), Steve Barberini (guitars), Dave Edwards (guitars) and Adam Gregory (drums). As they took to the stages of venues around Wales and England, they gained a reputation for kinetic live shows and innovative songwriting and musicianship. With Dave and Adam leaving to work on other projects, a further personnel change resulted in Matt ‘Animal’ Thomas (drums) and Dan Angelow (guitars) adding their talents to the band’s ranks.Well-received first EP Alone followed, together with a coveted slot on the Unsigned stage at Bloodstock Festival 2009. With momentum building, Hunted began working on their first full-length album while continuing to deliver memorable and energetic performances to their growing fanbase. The band crafted the album Welcome the Dead to take in their panoply of Metal influences and to reflect the development of their distinctive compositional and instrumental styles. Recorded at Sonic One Studios with the renowned Tim Hamill (producer/engineer for Girlschool, Anterior, and others), the self-released Welcome the Dead (2010) garnered great initial reviews and brought Hunted to the attention of Massacre Records, who signed the band and re-released Welcome the Dead on their imprint in 2011. Meanwhile, guitarist Dan Owen had come on board as Dan Angelow left to pursue professional opportunities elsewhere.The album’s official release resulted in more excellent reviews – and an enhanced reputation for genre-spanning composition, being labelled ‘power metal’, ‘progressive metal’ and ‘thrash’ among other tags, sometimes within the same review – and successful slots on further UK stages. When Dan Owen moved on, Hunted decided to remain a four-piece, with Steve, Chris, Jon and Matt choosing to take time away from the live arena and focus on refining their song writing craft to distil the essence of the diverse sounds driving their work.As personal circumstances changed and moved on, the band continued to work painstakingly on their second full-length album. After a long and thoughtful time, Deliver Us began to take shape at Sonic One Studios, Tim Hamill once again lending expert hands and ears to the process. With the completed album reflecting Hunted’s growth as songwriters and musicians, they’re thrilled to be able now to add their unique voice to the Metal world once again. In 2021, Hunted signed to Pitch Black Records for a global release of Deliver Us and for promising times ahead!
Album:
Rules, like cliches, are meant not only be broken, but they are also there to be smashed, destroyed, never put in place in the first instance; for if we abide by the rules, then the defiance of transgression in art is a criminal act, and the only point that will Deliver Us from the beige and the obsession with dull routine is one that delights in placing all human emotions into the same category and the same state of mind.It is this evil that we need to shout out with ferocious intent, to be delivered from a world of hegemony ruled by plastic, cold killjoys; and the world of art is the finest example of where transgression, contravention, the so-called offense of insubordination, and the revolution can take place. It is a world where the Hunted fight back, where those who seek a higher purpose can, and must, deliver salvation through their own interpretation of the benefit of the individual mind and the group collective that wants to see dull slaughtered, skewered on the rack of unpopular indifference.The world of Progressive Heavy Metal may have its roots in classic groups such as Queensryche, in albums such as Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son by Iron Maiden, but time itself has moved on from these early scintillating examples of the genre, and the new breed of musicianship, of earnest 21st Century introspective must be allowed the room to breathe and deliver their own valuable sense of exorcism of the untenable path that is constant compliance and its relation to the perceived norm.For fans of the Welsh Progressive Metal band Hunted, Deliver Us may seem as though it has had a long gestation period, but a lengthy break between recordings can often be a sign of intelligent understanding. For burn out is the curse of modern living, and it is better to be reflective and return to the forefront with absolute certainty, than to wither under the scrutiny of lights and fading appreciation.A decade on from the band’s first release, Welcome The Dead, Chris G, Steven Barberini, John Letson and Matt Thomas return with the splendid and diverse driven Deliver Us, an album that understands its Progressive nature, but isn’t afraid to strike out itself from the oblique and respectful duty of its own genre, and as tracks such as Salvation On A String, The Black Shore, the excellent One More Time, The Lie, and Time Will Tell play out with delicate timing and precision from the quartet, what hits home is the complexity of human intuition when it is allowed to surface, when individual thought is permitted to be expressed within the group dynamic.Deliver Us from the evil of conformity, but always be respectful of what you brought with you from out of the dark and into the light, in the case of the Hunted, they have brought belief along for the ride, and it is a welcome sight to behold, an aural lesson in the faith of their own conviction which marks this second album as a must listen to piece of art.
Line Up:
Chris G – vocals
Jon Letson – bass
Steven Barberini – guitars
Matt ‘Animal’ Thomas – drums
Tracklist:
01. Velvet Worm 03:20
02. Salvation on a String 05:03
03. For the Blind 07:11
04. Burning Ones 07:40
05. The Black Shore 03:31
06. The Lie 04:39
07. One More Time 06:32
08. Misled 05:28
09. Time Will Tell 03:57
10. Our Final Embrace 08:28
11. Maldito Sea Tu Nombre 03:51
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