Metal March memories

Tom Pinney

I love looking back at Facebook’s “On This Day” feature and the Timehop app on my phone.

Some days, it reminds me of a simpler time, when I was trying to get some friends to go with me to Jefferson Dining Hall at OU to enjoy a nice weekend brunch. I still have memories of Jeff Brunch, making sandwiches at the deli using French toast, their huge omelette station… Mmm.

Other days, it reminds me of just how much I’ve grown up. Remember when status updates were required to start with “is,” and you felt like it was necessary to speak of yourself in the third person?

Timehop recently reminded me that there was a point in time where I announced that I was only going to speak in third person. Good grief, I was such a dork back then.

Wait, I’m still a dork, what am I talking about?

The coolest thing that I get reminded of every year is March 2012, where I celebrated Metal March by quoting metal lyrics in my status updates every day leading up to the April release of True Defiance, the sixth studio album from Christian metal pioneers Demon Hunter. I pulled metal lyrics from everywhere in my vast library of metal music, from Demon Hunter, The Devil Wears Prada, some Wolves at the Gate thrown in for good measure, and one day, a song from Living Sacrifice.

I know, I’m just saying words that don’t mean anything to y’all right now. Don’t worry, I’m going somewhere with this.

What has made this feature even cooler every couple of years is that I’m reminded of these lyrics around the same time that I’m waiting for another release from Demon Hunter, because they love to release their albums in March or April so that they can hit the road in the fall on a headliner tour.

Every two years as the band was getting started, they would put out an album, then tour that album, then fade into darkness for a while before hitting the studio. All of the band members had lives outside of Demon Hunter, which was awesome for them.

However, for a cadre of impatient fans, odd-numbered years were not terribly fun because we ached for new Demon Hunter. We listened to the albums on repeat for months on end, and then we just wanted more.

This cycle continued until October of 2015, when Demon Hunter hit radio silence around the time they were supposed to tell us they had hit the studio. November, still nothing. Roll around to February, March, April of 2016, and we’re still getting radio silence from Demon Hunter.

Some fans, myself included, got worried. Was Demon Hunter done? Had they strummed their last mighty chords, banged their heads for the last time? At this point, the lead singer, Ryan Clark, had already released an album in his electronica side project NYVES, and they were touring that album.

Was this the end of Demon Hunter?

We waited with baited breath until, in October of 2016, Demon Hunter posted a picture of the inside of the studio.

And the metal world breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Okay, maybe that’s a little melodramatic, but you get my drift.

On the preorder page, the band described their eighth studio album, Outlive, as a record wrought through the trials and tribulations the band had experienced over the past three years. In a documentary released with the deluxe edition of the album (which, of course, I preordered and received early), we learned exactly what those trials and tribulations were.

One of the band members welcomed a pair of twins into the world. One of the twins developed a brain tumor that needed to be removed, and fast.

Another had a baby as well, but that baby was born with Down Syndrome. In the documentary, this man, who looked like the epitome of a heavy metal rocker with tattoos lining his arms, hair to his mid-back, and a righteous beard, broke down and cried talking about how much he loved his precious child.

Two days before the drummer’s wife gave birth to their first child, their house burned to the ground. They had to welcome their child into the world with a rented hotel room.

The lead singer contracted type-2 diabetes, and got teary-eyed when describing his fear of dying and leaving his wife and new daughter alone.

Guys, I’ve talked about the healing power of music before, but here, it’s visceral and tangible. The men of Demon Hunter had a very long three years since the release of Extremist in 2014, and this album – though not a traditional concept album – puts together a cogent story of how they deal with the pain in their lives.

Clark said it best in the documentary – music. They went into the studio to record this project because they knew they needed to.

Clark talked about how the band was constantly receiving letters of the positive effects of their music, how it saved lives, how soldiers took it into battle with them, how people came to know Christ through the driving rhythms of Demon Hunter’s music.

They made this album for all of us, but they also made it for them. They realized the music was just as freeing and relieving to them as it is to us, their fans.

I’m not saying everyone should go and give it a listen, because if you’re not into metal, you’re not going to enjoy it like I did. But this is another reminder to listen to your music for more than just the beat. Listen to the stories your songs tell.

As for Demon Hunter’s eighth record, Outlive, what I hear as I play it from the beginning for the umpteenth time is a story of sacrifice, personal redemption, and perseverance through all adversity, no matter what.

Tom Pinney is a news reporter for the Maryville Daily Forum