"Dead Flowers (Resurrected)" by Demon Hunter, Friday, January 29, 2021


"I wore my Demon Hunter patch on every mission. I wore it when I blasted bin Laden. So, yes, in essence Demon Hunter did, in fact, hunt a demon" (Fuse). In 2019 when Demon Hunter released their two albums War and Peace, they encapsulated the two sounds battling for this band's fandom. One one had, they are a fierce metal band and on the other hand, they love to write a dark ballad ballad for every album, which usually becomes their radio hit. The fandom around this band is intense. The opening quote from the Navy Seals on the team that killed Osama bin Laden listened to the band. Frontman Ryan Clark has stated multiple times that the logo and branding of Demon Hunter proceeded the band. And as one of the most influential graphic designers in Tooth & Nail album design (and mainstream rock for that matter), branding and style are everything. 

REBORN. Music in the 2021 is great for old bands. They can capitalize on their fans and play old music online and stream it around the world. With artists not touring they can focus on writing and releasing an album or two (Taylor Swift ;). Anberlin has been doing their album series, Emery did Sunday night collaborations with other musicians, and Demon Hunter decided to resurrect some of their greatest ballads from their ten albums, from their first album's "My Throat Is an Open Grave" to their Summer of Darkness hit "My Heartstrings Come Undone" and many other songs in between, all arranged acoustically with string--and bagpipe, in the case of today's song-- accompaniment. I must admit I haven't kept up with dark album after album, but I do know that "Dead Flowers" holds a four star rating in my personal Apple Music library. Except for the the emotional touch of bagpipes at the end of the song, the original for the (electric) guitar solo is better. But why should you have to choose? I'll post both versions today.






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