Review Summary: The first major slip-up in an otherwise legendary discography.
The Dear Hunter, although never truly appreciated by mainstream audiences, has been one of the greatest and most consistent progressive rock bands of the last 20 years. Throughout Acts I through V, they demonstrated their masterful ability to weave intricate storytelling with top-level musicianship. Even outside of their narrative ambitions, the band’s songwriting has consistently stood on its own. With the release of 2021’s
The Indigo Child and 2022’s
Antimai, the band set out in an ambitious new direction, with a whole new story to tell.
Antimai was a step in a much funkier direction, although it’s still a progressive rock album through and through. Though the album isn’t quite on the same level as the Acts, it’s still very catchy and takes the listener on a fascinating journey through a fictional world and exploring its class division.
Antimai, with all its worldbuilding, was very clearly setting up for a sequel.
Creating these kinds of epic, storytelling progressive albums feels like a balancing act; if you lean too far into the storytelling and forego making captivating music, you could have a world-class story to tell but it’ll fall on deaf ears because no listener is going to knowingly put themselves through a slog of an album for the sake of hearing a story, as there are far more entertaining forms of media that can more efficiently satisfy that desire. As painful as it is to say,
Sunya mishandles that balance entirely, and doesn’t just fall short as a sequel to
Antimai, but rather as a progressive rock album altogether. For as beautiful as the album can be at times, nearly every song feels incredibly hollow and forgettable. Several tracks, such as
The Wasteland,
The Glass Desert II - Cliffs and Stormlands, and the album’s closing/title track meander aimlessly, stretching ideas well beyond their breaking point. Although there are bits and pieces of songs that are pleasant to listen to, these moments are few and far between. The songwriting from lead vocalist Casey Crescenzo also has taken a noticeable step back. His creativity remains impressive, but the story he’s trying to tell in
Sunya struggles to take shape within the songs themselves, resulting in the narrative feeling underdeveloped. Given how deliberately
Antimai set the stage, the lack of narrative payoff is particularly striking.
For what it’s worth,
Sunya is far from terrible. The band’s musicianship remains undeniable, even if their talents aren’t always put to effective use on this album. Crescenzo’s vocals are stellar throughout
Sunya, and certain specific instrumental performances (such as the bouncy bassline on
The Bazaareteria) are worth mentioning.
Marauders, despite being a bit wacky and off-beat, has an infectious upbeat energy to it as well. Even with these highlights though, the fact remains that The Dear Hunter didn’t live up to their potential on
Sunya. With such a legendary track record up to this point, I still have high hopes that they can correct course with future releases. With any luck, one day we’ll look back at
Sunya as that one unfortunate misstep that The Dear Hunter thankfully learned from.
2.25 out of 5
