There’s a good chance that you’ve never heard of Hunter unless you’re from Poland. This is a tragedy because Hunter are one of the most inventive and interesting rock/metal bands that I’ve had the pleasure to come across. Fronted by Pawel Grzegorczyk (aka Drak), Hunter write intelligent music that combines the forthright heaviness of ‘Black’ album-era Metallica with the grandiose classical arrangements of vintage Paradise Lost or My Dying Bride without ever aspiring to the gloominess of either. While in the past Hunter albums have been impressive affairs, Hellwood is a staggering leap forward in terms of musicianship and strength of the songs on offer and while there is nothing as immediate as ‘fantasmagoria’ or ‘Fallen’ (both from the excellent Medeis album), you can guarantee that you will return to this record time and time again and still manage to find some new element that you missed on your previous visit.
Opening with a brief, and creepy interlude (‘Nadchodzi…’), Hunter positively blaze into ‘Strasznik’, a storming mid-tempo metal song with violin passages adding colour and depth to the sound without overly cluttering it. Drak’s voice, never weak, appears to have gotten stronger in the years since T.E.L.I (which was released separately in English and Polish) and his authoritative growl, now sticking resolutely to Polish, fits the mood of the song perfectly. The pummelling ‘SmierciSmiech’ follows, setting a nice contrast to its slower predecessor before the listener enters ‘Labirynt Fauna’, a high point of the album that sees Drak and Pit turn in tight performances upon the guitar while some frankly bizarre instrumentation creates an interestingly uneasy atmosphere in the background.
The quality remains high as the band lurch into Duch Epoki which houses a multitude of tempos and odd, jarring sounds and sounds not unlike Tool jamming with Radiohead circa OK Computer before charging towards a frenzied climax, all thrashing guitars and soaring violins. ‘Armia Boga’ successfully sounds exactly like a marching Army of God, with martial beats, thundering guitar and sweeping neo-classical strokes heralding the arrival of one of the more straightforward rock tracks on the album, although even this hosts a strikingly unconventional bridge section for the listener to marvel at. ‘Dura Lex Sed Lex’ is short and heavy, and we finish the main album with ‘TshaZshyC’ which houses yet another Metallica-sized riff offset by a jarring tempo and Drak’s urgent vocal.
While the ‘main’ album finishes with ‘TshaZshyC’, there are still three more tracks to go, which take the form of a mini-suite. Astonishingly managing to be both darker and heavier than what has gone before, ‘Arges’ is an epic track, at ten minutes in length, it opens with a brooding piano chord and Drak’s voice swirling in the darkness. Guitars add colour to the sound, without taking over from the menacing piano, and all manner of bizarre percussion creates the sound of rock and roll vampirism with far more authority than ‘Queen of the Damned’ ever could. Breathtakingly audacious, ‘Arges’ requires multiple listens just to appreciate all the intricate musicianship taking place. ‘Cztery Wieki Pozniej…’ has a job following its stunning predecessor, but succeeds by being completely unexpected and Eastern in flavour, with light acoustic guitar and tabla, replacing the gut-churning darkness of ‘Arges’. ‘Zbawienie’ closes the disc with thunderous drums and a wah-inflected central guitar riff, leaving the listener anxious to press play and listen to the whole album over again just to make sure that it really is as good as it initially purports to be.
This is without a doubt one of the most ambitious rock albums you are ever likely to hear, the beauty of the Polish language works perfectly with the melodic savagery of the music and not a single second is wasted, as every track offers inventive and often unexpected twists. Hunter represent the type of band that make heavy metal such an amazingly innovative genre; hard-touring (they seem to spend their lives on the road), always developing their sound and style, and rife with new ideas and an experimental edge, they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Metallica, Megadeth or Tool. Easily tracked down online (or on a holiday to Eastern Europe), this is a record that any fan of rock should try to get hold of as quickly as possible. This is Hunter’s masterpiece and is an essential addition to any record collection. Outstanding in every sense of the word, this is one of the finest albums of the decade.
