The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional (September 9, 2016) Album • Page 5

I've always been a mild fan. My gf liked them more than I did. But last week I did 1-4 and it just finally clicked.

 

I was in this boat for a long time pretty much, Coheed are my favorite band I wanted to love TDH so bad but was more a fan of the poppy and overtly catchy stuff and less a fan of the indulgent orchestration and whatnot in most TDH albums. I had to listen to TDH a lotttttttt but then one day it just clicked. So just keep listening I guess? lol

 

i can see you rolling your eyes at 90% of what comes after Act II, heh. if you get to the end of that album not looking forward to the rest, then i suggest you drop it. it gets really theatrical after that, even if there's stuff like "Life and Death", "Waves" and "Light". also check out The Color Spectrum - 36 songs from every genre in the book, completely unrelated to the Acts.

 

Given the love for C&C, we're probably coming at this band from a relatively similar perspective.

I would say your description - "bored and confused" - is my response to roughly half of the TDH catalog. I've long accepted they'll never make a record that I consider a front-to-back masterpiece. Rather, each release is an opportunity to find a handful of killer tracks, for me.

Here's some of the stuff I consider most accessible (or at least that I liked almost right away):

"The Procession" and "The BItter Suites" from Act II

The first four tracks from Act III

Black and Indigo from The Color Spectrum

The first half of Act IV

 

yep, pretty much the same. there are some super catchy and interesting songs scattered throughout, but for the most part it just doesnt click with me. even now, listening to Act II, I just dont get it.

 

@CoffeeEyes17 i would suggest that you just ignore the acts for a while. They can be wildly intimidating. I would suggest you go straight to migrant - his truest singular album as a standalone and IMO best starting point. It's still diverse and a good listen, but it's much more reigned in and approachable; I'd say it's got most of his most accessible stuff (fuckin whisper? Damn what a hook). I can see it being more your style (plus Casey sounds goddamn immaculate, vocally)

 

will do ty boo

 

❤️

Let me know what you think! Casey's a good dude, always hoping he can make more fans

 

i still have never listened to a song off Migrant because i'm a moron

 

Pls listen to whisper

 

just did, loved it. definitely a safer recommendation than most of the Act songs. no idea why i was holding off on listening to it, really. reminds me of the fact that i only listened to Damage last year. i'm the worst fan ever

 

It's definitely the outlier in his discog, which is funny because it'd be the most normal release by anyone else. Stop depriving yourself of these good albums pls

 

i want to!! my listening habits are just the worst

 

Well, to be fair, I haven't listened to the full acts 4 or 5 yet

 

I'm sorry, but that's even worse!

 

The climax / last bunch of songs on this are pretty incredible.

 

So I did what I said I'd do and listened to all 5. I regret to inform you all that it didn't really grab me. But that's ok, I'm glad you all love it and this band, just not for me

 

It's not for everybody. Did you find any songs that you really liked?

 

A few here and there, like City Escape and In Cauda Venenum and Smiling Swine. Nothing from the 2 new ones really grabbed me too much but I think I might revisit them again

 

migrant was a huge disappointment after color spectrum, haha
act 2 forever the best

 

Yeah I still don't like Migrant besides like 3 songs.

 

Migrant rules
Color spectrum rules
The acts rule

 

Idk acts iv and v may have it beat for me

 

act iv was a sprawling mess when i listened to it last year
i'm probably just over this kind of music anyways

 

Migrant is somewhat boring, on the whole. I enjoyed some of it when it came out, but never revisit it now.

The most intriguing bit for me might've actually been "Sweet Naiveté," since it was new ground for them at the time, but they really explored that style more on Act IV-V and perhaps to better effect (e.g., "Is There Anybody There?").