Review Summary: SUNYA is complementary to the futuristic world of The Indigo Child and Antimai, giving shape and narrative to what feels like a beautiful blueprint of a universe. Every song has a part that I come back to
Imagine my shock and surprise that this album, one of the few I regularly can listen to the entire thing straight through regularly in 2026, is TDH’s lowest rated album on Sputnik Music.
Small preface: The Dear Hunter has always been Shakespeare to me. Where some listeners feel the band is floundering and confusing sounds, I really appreciate their willingness to try something new. All Acts albums are perfect. I enjoy ALL the colors of The Color Spectrum. The sci fi Antimai concept album is also a masterpiece. Sunya has some tall siblings it must rise to. I would say it certainly does!
SUNYA is complementary to the futuristic world in The Indigo Child and Antimai, giving shape and narrative to what feels like a beautiful blueprint of a universe so far. Every song has a part that I come back to and sing.
The album opens with The Wasteland. This is a solid 7 minute track. “In the wastelaaaand” - this chorus is my hook, it gets stuck in my head all the time. This track introduces us to the world outside of the Rings of the society in Antimai. It is bright and upbeat, chiming about the ways to thrive in emptiness. There are many 7 minute songs that remind you when you’re halfway through somewhere but this track feels like it’s half the length and you’re at the end by the time you’re reminded by Casey that it’s a waste, man.
Marauders is the second track. It opens with some lively and quick guitar. This song gives me Mad Max vibes. I really enjoy the lyrics to this song. At 1:12 we get a fun little chant before the chorus hits and we finna riiiiiiide baby!!!! The sounds on this track actually reminds me of something from the Acts the most. It’s catchy and 3 minutes of fast movement now that we have become acquainted with the Wasteland.
The Bazaareteria is next! Aw man, I really love this funky track too. I hope it’s palpable the joy this song brings me. I love the lyrics and it feels like we are making metaphors and analogies calling back to The Tower and Nature from Antimai. This song builds the world outside Antimai by singing about the quirky ways people and their morals come together and have begun to function outside of mainstream society. The character experiencing The Wasteland is learning that being outside of Antimai isn’t what they believed. “Shouldn’t have let your desire turn to greed” is so cheeky to the listener and the band is really jamming at this point in the album.
The Glass Desert I - Giants… whew we are about halfway through a pretty sweet-so-far album. Anyone would be intimidated by 3 part songs and how they could possibly stand on their own, BUT great news: the Glass Desert is worth wandering through.
Giants is so dreamy. It rises happily at the start and stays flying, I love the harmonious fills singing as we imagine the glow of the wasteland. At 3:30, you’ll reach some full horns and solos in the outro. They are beautiful for the remainder of the song. The final minute actually uses some of the funky ending solos from The Tower as well.
The Glass Desert II - Cliffs and Stormlands is our next song. “I’m in a free fall, long enough to wonder if I’d ever reach the ground at all” - such a beautiful lyric. Is this about the magnificent vastness of the natural world outside Antimai’s rings? The character experiencing this? Or Casey, himself? This is the first point in the excited mania of getting out of the Rings of Antimai that it feels like the main character is contemplating and seeing the Wasteland for what it really is. The dangers and negative sides are finally hitting. Some will say this sadness at the start of the song is meandering, but the pay off is worth it! At about 2:30 the tempo picks up and gets jazzy. By the time 3:30 hits, we are rocking out. This song transitions a few times. I would say this song pretty epic in its different mental states.
The Glass Desert III - The Plains is the third and final part of The Glass Desert songs. I dare say it’s probably my least favorite of the three portions. It seems this song is about the main character deciding to stay the course and staying outside of Antimai. I like when this track takes a dramatic turn at about 3 minutes. The guitars and singing turns a bit more dire versus the first half’s cheery 4/4-ness.
Sunya is the title track and the final song of the album. This becomes a nail biter because obviously the album is named for this song so it HAS to be good. This is another 7 minute song. Personally, it does drag a smidge towards the first half of it for me. I feel like we are zooming out, the lyrics summarizing the world as it is- both Sunya and Antimai incorporated. At 4 minutes, the track winds down a bit before the musical outros hit. This track ends with the riff from Middle Class and makes you realize where narratively we are by the end of the journey… almost at the same mindset as middle class in Antimai…. Somewhere in the middle :)
Sunya is not Antimai. We literally escaped from Antimai’s cold walls in the last album! Sunya is a beautiful journey in nature. Some of its beauty is in the nose, but some of it takes a second look/listen to really take it in. TDH describes this album as their most ambitious yet and I can hear it. Not all the lyrics are available online, so I’m positive there’s more themes and poetry I’m missing and the only way to hear it is to listen again and again… This album is not the weak link in an otherwise beautiful discography. It’s just another piece of the conceptual masterpiece.
