Huntsmen - The Dry Land

Angry Metal Guy 90

Huntsmen’s 2018 debut American Scrap came out of nowhere. The dark and emotional blend of progressive sludge and Americana knocked me flat and strode right into my year-end list. Evidently, the band wasn’t one to rest on its laurels, because just two years later, Huntsmen demonstrated just how much the Chicagoans had challenged themselves by releasing the bombastic, bloated, bore-a-thon Mandala of Fear. This one was mentioned in my year-end list as well, but as the biggest disappointment. So I approached The Dry Land with a healthy amount of trepidation. Will Huntsmen rise from the ashes like a phoenix, or does it merely crash and burn?

From the start, it’s clear that The Dry Land is a very different beast than Mandala of Fear. But rather than trying to retrace their steps backward toward the debut, Huntsmen stepped up and forward with a complete re-tuning of their already rather unique sound. Sludge and, in a lesser sense, stoner were load-bearing pillars, but the focus has shifted away from the singular riff and moved toward the thick textures and loose structures of post-metal. It’s a bold progression, not without risks, especially when Mandala suffered so much from a lack of cohesion and form. But against all odds, this tectonic shift has resulted in the tightest and most awe-inspiring album Huntsmen has written to date.

The Dry Land by Huntsmen

Blaise Pascal once apologized for writing a long letter, as he did not have the time to make it shorter. Huntsmen has taken its time for this album, and despite 4 out of 6 tracks crossing well past the 7-minute mark, it’s as lean as beef jerky, every moment wrought with purpose and progression. The Dry Land opens with the two longest tracks, of which “Cruelly Dawns” is the most imaginative, patiently building up from distorted desert jangling, using various variations on canon vocals to grab and hold tension to its intense conclusion. But the album only gets better from there. “Lean Times” is a thoroughbred country ballad until cascading waves of guitars sweep the song up like a sandstorm. The ragged, beat-up guitar sound gives depth and flair to the solos, which convey amazing emotive potency that elevates the compositional climaxes, reminding of a more raw and distorted David Gilmour in their ability to sketch a mood with a few well-placed chords. “In Time, All Things” is another resounding success, adopting the gossamer tremolos and searing intensity of post-black amid an introspective treatise on mortality. Through all this, however, Huntsmen retains its roots, even strengthening the Americana element with genuine country passages.

Though the band has played with multi-vocal approaches before, they perfect it here, employing a staggering variety of styles and harmonies. Male-female harmonization with various levels of distortion and exchanged lead, Beauty and the Beast style call and response, full-on black metal screams and ragged hardcore shouts, sprechgesang with overlaid screams, and more. Huntsmen almost seems to take it as a challenge, but nowhere does it feel like compositional showboating. It’s all in service of the emotional impact of the music, communicating fragility and despair, indignation, and rage, jaded depression and hope against hope. Nothing embodies this approach quite like the brilliant “Rain.” Bookended by ritualistic Johnny Cash, the song ramps up fast toward crescendo after colossal crescendo. Aimee Buono puts in a passionate and raw performance that rips the heart to shreds, especially when complemented by tattered bellows in genuine pain. After getting sidelined for most of Mandala, it’s great to hear her become a central part of the band’s beating heart.

I admit, I was skeptical about Huntsmen’s ability to recoup after their sophomore slump. Instead, my expectations were firmly and thoroughly trashed, squashed, ground to a fine paste, and used to fertilize the soil. The Dry Land is not perfection incarnate; the mix can get a little messy at times, and opener “This, Our Gospel” takes a few minutes to find its footing. But don’t let that distract you from one of the greatest comeback stories of the century. I’ve spun The Dry Land for days without stopping, and still I find it hard to pull away. The shift in sound has worked out brilliantly, and it has done this whilst retaining the Americana flair that forged the band’s identity. Huntsmen is not just back; it’s better than it’s ever been before.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Prosthetic Records
Websites: huntsmen.bandcamp.com | huntsmendoom.com | facebook.com/huntsmenband
Releases Worldwide: June 7th, 2024

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