I have a mixed history with Demon Hunter. They were one of my “gateway” bands that got me into heavier music, way back in 2007 after Storm the Gates of Hell came out. I remember going to their website and playing the song samples they had from that album over and over, and it just blew my mind. My mom didn’t like it at all, but I’m forever grateful for her eventually letting me get that CD at the Christian bookstore. That album literally changed my life and my music trajectory from then on (it’s still one of my favorite DH albums).
However, at around the time of the True Defiance album (“I Am a Stone” from that album became by far their most popular song, which will become important later), I began to notice a trend both lyrically and musically I didn’t like. It started to become less vulnerable and more finger-pointy. I think Ryan Clark’s lyrics have always had a tinge of the latter, but it became their main thing after that. Music made for “Don’t tread on me” dude-bros at the gym. Which is fine if that’s your thing, but I started to realize that wasn’t for me. So I looked elsewhere for a while for my heavy Christian bands (in the process discovering some of my favorite bands of all time: Norma Jean, The Chariot, The Devil Wears Prada, etc.).
Along comes this album, “There Was a Light Here,” kind of shirking everything they’ve been about since “I Am a Stone” blew up on streaming. This album is vulnerable, honest, questioning, and doubting at times – all the things I thought had been missing from their output for the past 15 years. Written in the wake of his mother’s death, these songs have an aching vulnerability that hit me really hard. On the somber title track, Ryan Clark admits, “I am no longer a stone / I can’t walk into the shadows alone / Take my soul to where the waters atone / Bring me home.”
The theme of this album – “There Was a Light Here” – is such a beautiful way to think about and grieve the passing of a loved one. Again on the title track: “You may never find the place you’re looking for / You may never see her face again this side of Heaven’s door / But when the night is at its darkest, in the quiet of your heart, you will know: / There was a light here.” Another favorite of mine is “Overwhelming Closure,” in which Ryan admits, “I spent a lifetime praying… I can’t believe what I don’t know.” And then on “Sorrow Light the Way:” “I just watched my mother die, so forgive me if I haven’t the want for this weight / I’ve been suffering in silence, waiting for the calming break of day.” There are so many other good lines throughout this album.
There are some minor musical quibbles that keep this from being higher. I don’t need to hear a chorus six or seven times in one song – a lot of these songs would hit harder if they didn’t beat you over the head with the chorus (this has been an issue for them again since True Defiance). I’ve also fallen out of love with guitar solos, and thankfully there are fewer here, but they still occasionally act as the climax of a song, where in my opinion a bridge or riffing section would have worked better.
Also, I am fully aware this is now just “dad metal” (DH has been for a while) but I’m into it, at least in this form. I hope they continue on this trajectory.
The Neimans 
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