Hunter, HellWood

Author:     Hunter

Released:   2009

Genre:       Goth Metal, Thrash Metal

Producer:   Andrzej Karp
                 Paweł Grzegorczyk

Rating:       ******** (8 out of 10)







Personnel:

Guitar, Vocals, Piano             Paweł "Drak" Grzegorczyk
Guitar                             Piotr "Pit" Kędzierzawski
Bass,                                       Konrad "Saimon" Karchut
Violins                                     Michał "Jelonek" Jelonek
Drums                                     Dariusz "Daray" Brzozowski

List of Songs:

1. Nadchodzi...       2. Strasznik      3. $mierci $miech      4. Labirynt Fauna         5. Duch Epoki              6. Armia Boga      7. Dura Lex Sed Lex                8. TshaZshyC      9. Arges       10. Cztery Wieki Później...  11. Zbawienie   

Yes, this time we need to reach for something different. Different does not necessarily must mean bad or unworthy your time. The world has taught us how different parts might become one single unit. Just take a look at your discography and ask that smiling Michael Jackson, philanderer Tom Jones or looking-for-love Celine Dion – maybe they’ll prove that different is fun, my dear Rocker. However, it’s still the genre of the highest craving tunes from our Rocking world.

Hunter. Goth, Power, Thrash, Heavy Metal. Coming from Poland. They like black. Has it started fun? Oh, and sometimes they shed some blood in slaughterhouses (only in music videos, though). It’s not fortuity we mention Hunter now, but be patient – they will come. In this review we’d like to focus on one of their brightest records, and one of the best Polish Heavy Metal LPs ever made and you need to know that the Polish Heavy Metal scene is stronger than ever, so London Leatherboys – watch out!

They started with Thrash Metal in their Requiem debut from 1995, then stepped down to classic Metal with gothic influences owed especially to their violinist Michal Jelonek, who added that “magical” ingredient with a few well-fed pinches. They wore black with hats so they had been categorized as Goths. Are they? Are they more Thrash, Gothic or classic Metal? “HellWood”, their 2009 effort, proves to be everything at once, but good ol’ times with Metallica and Megadeth on the board come first to your mind. Unlike the lyrics, which had been influenced by the Hollywood productions and… obviously, those Friedkin- and Hitchcock-affiliated, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, El Laberinto del Fauno, or Dracula. Let’s make a trip on their brains (Suicidal Tendencies – approved) and step in the Hell’s gates for very one time (Maybe we’ll find some Metal Churches or the Possessed, who knows…).

Lasting over 56 minutes this album is fulfilled with a damn good material with both music and lyric theme fundaments. No lyrics are penned in Churchill’s language, but one needs two clicks on their mighty computers to discover the translations from Polish. A lil’ bit of magic doesn’t kill anybody. Look at the cover with a creeping up obscure dead tree centered in the titled Hellwood with gloomy light and gloomy surroundings and you’re already home. This album must be dark. Indeed, no ballads, no fancy melodies, no squeaking harmonies, but loads of good rhythms, progressive passages, tempo changes, and heavy mood loaded in every instrument. Starting from the intro “Nadchodzi…” (“It’s Coming…”) you know it’s really getting you from everywhere, giving you goosebumps and freezing your blood out. You think it’ll ring solid bray of Death Metal, but nope – “Strasznik” (“Bugbear”) must freak you out with thumping gallop of Dariusz “Daray” Brzozowski’s drums and bolts of riffing surrounding your soul just to capture it into another song. “$mierci $miech” (“$eath’s $augh”) holds forth the war theme and shows the skills of the frontman/lead guitarist/singer’s hooks who shouts out desperately: ‘They’ll dance on us/ Victorious waltz with volleys” and you know there’s no place to run.

You think it must be some filler around, but you may disappoint yourself by going next track further and assaulting into “Labirynt Fauna” (“The Faun’s Labyrinth”) – one of two epics on the record. It’s dark and it’s captivating when soaring and hoarse vocals scrape through heavy guitar layers, plenty of them, collapsing down the speakers. “Duch Epoki” (The Age’s Ghost) seems quite slow and dull, but it changes with “Dura Lex Sed Lex” written by the group’s violinist only. The second epic, “Arges”, tell a story about nobody else but Prince Dracula. Very slow, pathetic and glorious track with gothic atmosphere underlined by dramatic violins and untypical clear singing of “Drak” the singer. This is the climax of the disc and you just wonder if it can be better… Well, no, this it. Other tracks are on average, with no shines and glimpses.

This is it. Our first Polish Heavy Metal album review has just ceased. That is one of our strongest positions in The World of Rising Songs’ reviews catalogue. Sometimes you do not even know what kind of good music you may find in the other corner of the same world. As Scorpions sing, we all live under the same sun, but some places are darker, while others are brighter. We shall come back to Hunter in the nearest future, for sure.