Hunted – Welcome the Dead (2011)

HUNTED hail from Wales, UK, they’ve started as a cover band but went to develop their own sound, influenced by such bands as IRON MAIDEN, BLIND GUARDIAN, SAXON, DIO, DREAM THEATER, ICED EARTH to name just few of the prominent ones. They also fuse some marks of Progressive into their sound, some thrash and power touches also, which makes for an interesting sound – at once classically Heavy Metal yet enhanced by embracing the other subgenres. They’ve released a demo EP ‘Alone’ before and tested themselves live in many venues. ‘Welcome The Dead’ is their first album, at first self-produced, but now under Massacre Records. The album has a very promising intro, and builds up with a great strength and the sequences of songs are well assembled. Some of the most remarkable tracks were ‘Aria (In Memoriam)’ – grand song opening with beautifully strummed and picked guitars with an acoustic sound that will come in and out during the song, bursting into the powerful melody, epic song with many layers, showing their fusion of the Metal genres truly well, even some Doom metal between its more audible / noticeable Progressive references.

Not to mention it shows of their musicianship in ample measure, the guitars squeeze in a lot of emotion, the vocals are to be commended throughout. ‘The Incident’ which is a sample track atmospherically introduces the next song, ‘Impaled’, the dramatic culminating song with a great narrative with an emotive story of child witnessing murder of his parents. It demonstrates a great use of communicating main and backing vocals as well as instruments for a nearly theatrical piece. The track is underlined by a manic drumming that gets your blood sufficiently boiling. ‘Shadows’ was yet another song that stood out for me, love the heavier, darker guitars, another emotively charged song. The closing of this album is served by a cover of NEVERMORE’s ‘The Heart Collector’ and a truly wonderful one it is! An impressive debut, it sounds already quite accomplished, and I’m sure we’ll hear even more about this band in future as their reputation and body of work will grow. I’ve enjoyed it beyond my anticipation and could only heartily recommend it.

01. Silence of Minds 1:19
02. Chosen 6:02
03. Aria (In Memoriam) 4:28
04. Impaled 8:48
05. The Incident 0:33
06. I Want Nothing 5:09
07. Scars 5:22
08. Shadows 5:37
09. The Heart Collector (Bonus Track) 7:01

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