Review by Jophelerx on August 26, 2024.

The Hunter will probably always be my favorite Persuader album, likely due to the fact that it was the first one I encountered from them, though I think the fact that it feels like the purest version of their "power/speed metal on crack" formula, without any of the Gothenburg influence that slowly crept into their sound, particularly on their highly successful third album, When Eden Burns. This progression with the band is interesting because despite the band being from Sweden and that Gothenburg sound being geographically close to them, it also feels like lead vocalist Jens Carlsson's time in the US-based act Dark Empire led to some of the "modernization" of their sound, with more harsh and progressive influences coming in on When Eden Burns in addition to some Gothenburg-like riffing. The 2000 Persuader debut album The Hunter predates all of that, though, as well as Carlsson's time in the arguably more well-known Blind Guardian ripoff/side project Savage Circus, and this showcases a group of young, mostly untested musicians playing a brand of aggressive power metal drawing from groups like Grave Digger, Blind Guardian, and Iron Savior, but ultimately following their own path and creating something that would leave an indelible impact on the European power metal scene.

First off, vocalist Jens Carlsson stands out for his gruff, raspy shrieks that are a bit harsher than the typical fare for the genre and can be reminiscent of mid-90s Hansi Kursch, though here they make me think more of an 80s thrash vocalist like UK's Michael Jackson of Satan and Pariah fame, or if anything from the power metal realm, something like Running Wild's Rock n Rolf with a bit more punch and aggression; perhaps a combination of the aforementioned two frontmen would give you a fair idea of his tone and delivery. This fits pretty well with the music, which pushes power/speed to its limits and often throws in thrash influence as well, tending to keep things at a pretty relentless pace and keeping things focused on the riffs much more than most Europower of the time. That's what caused this band to be championed by fans of classic metal and/or "ballsy" power metal in a time when the genre was dominated by Nightwish or Helloween clones, and the band is certainly worthy of such praise here, keeping things focused on a foundation of heavy guitars the vast majority of the time, with the only exceptions being occasional acoustic sections, such as near the end of "Cursed," which totally fit in the context of the songwriting, echoing the structure of 80s metal epics from bands like Manowar more than anything.

I also have very little praise for the production, which is loud and in your face, giving everything a spot but definitely placing particular emphasis on the intense guitar work. The vocals don't feel like they play second fiddle, but I think that's more of a testament to Carlsson's over-the-top energy and aggression than the production giving him a spotlight - a lesser vocalist would certainly struggle to keep up with everything else going on here, but Carlsson sounding like he's fighting for his life every second makes sure he's never outshined. The drumming is solid and energetic too, never particularly inventive but not out of place or lacking in oomph. The bass is rarely audible, with the sparse acoustic sections being the main time that I notice it, but that's hardly a downside with this style of music. Highlights of the album are many, such as the neoclassical intro to "Fire at Will" that soon breaks into some quite chaotic thrash riffing but eventually breaks into the galloping speed metal that's at the heart of the album, a catchy, relatively simple yet layered and intense experience that varies the melodies enough to keep things engaging throughout without ever really ramping up the complexity to a point that ventures into tech thrash or progressive territory.

"As You Wish" is a bit of an odd duck, highlighting some of the more modern influences the band would gradually increase throughout their first few albums, one of the few cases where the bass is given prominence but not in a way that really feels natural or interesting to me, with the guitars doing some slow, cyber-y stuff that echoes some of the ideas Blind Guardian played within tracks like "Born in a Mourning Hall," but without the deftness that Blind Guardian had, feeling a bit like they're trying to shoehorn in a more "modern" sound of the modern prog era rife with groove influence, like Nevermore or countrymen Morgana Lefay. While I mentioned Gothenburg influence, I wouldn't say that's primarily evident on this track, more in some of the faster riffing and drumming throughout the album, when the intensity surpasses the power/speed metal template but doesn't veer into thrash territory - this album is kind of a mishmash, throwing out thrash riffs on "Fire at Will," say, but then on a song like "Heart and Steel" or "My Life for You" they feel less chaotic and more measured while still feeling kind of extreme - it's hard for me to describe not knowing all the technical guitar methods, but it does veer into something that sounds close to some melodeath I've heard. It's hardly prominent though, at least on this album, and power/speed metal is still an accurate term for probably 80% of the guitar work here, with more than half of the remainder closer to thrash territory.

Carlsson does make the band feel closer to something more extreme at times, though, with his use of extreme growls in places, most notably on the title track "The Hunter." This is also my favorite track on the album (and probably from the band overall), with its iconic intro ripped from the 1981 film The Evil Dead to the fantastic main riff as well as an incredible chorus, and just an overall progression that leaves me on the edge of my seat while feeling more epic and atmospheric than a band like this has any right to. In the second half of the song, though, Carlsson suddenly breaks into a totally harsh screech that's more reminiscent of groups like early In Flames and Dark Tranquillity than any other aspect of this album, which is perhaps why the band so often gets mentioned among more extreme acts (though, as I said, I think an album like When Eden Burns legitimately has a significant amount in common with the Gothenburg sound in its guitar style). It might be off-putting for fans of a more melodic style, but this album isn't really for those anyway, and I'd say most people who can tolerate the amount of rasp Hansi doles out in Imaginations from the Other Side aren't going to have much of a problem with Carlsson here. His use of this harsher style is brief and not done much anyway, with his voice sticking to the gruff, thrashy style I mentioned earlier the majority of the time.

While primarily feeling like an ode to old-school speed/thrash bands filtered through a more modern, European power metal sensibility, there are songs that legitimately echo the sorts of ideas Carlsson and lead guitarist Emil Norberg would explore with the Savage Circus project, with tracks like "Escape" feeling very Blind Guardian-inspired - this is certainly one of the more melodic numbers here, and I'd say it's a nice change of pace - the band shows that they're capable of more than one mode, which some fast, thrashy bands have trouble transitioning to, so that's absolute to their credit, and the band even makes use of some choral effects here that add nicely to the atmosphere. While there aren't any tracks here I'd call outright bad, the album does have its ups and downs, with the aforementioned "As You Wish" and "Heart of Steel" probably being the weakest moments for me, with the latter feeling like it's trying a little too hard to cling to the big, dumb choruses prevalent at the time with bands like Hammerfall and Gamma Ray at the time. To be fair, this style can work quite well when done right, but it's not something Persuader does particularly well, at least in this case, and while it does have some cool, more progressive guitar work in the soloing, the vocal lines and particularly the chorus feel very cookie-cutter and inorganic for this particular group of musicians. "...And There Was Light" doesn't totally bring things back on point, with some of the slow, bass-heavy parts that plagued "As You Wish," but the song does some cool stuff otherwise, definitely playing with musical ideas that feel fresh and inventive if not always headbangable. It can feel a bit disjointed at times, going from power metal to weird proggy guitar slides and then near-thrash harshness, but I still find it charming overall.

"My Life for You" does at least end things on a pretty high note, though, with some more BG-inspired guitar work at the beginning, followed by some galloping riffs that echo the sort of atmosphere the band was able to create on the title track, giving a big, epic, adventurous spirit to the whole thing even when the individual building blocks of the song aren't always perfectly on-point. Overall, I think The Hunter is still more of a mixed bag than I'd prefer, with the band clearly experimenting with different ideas here and trying to decide what direction, exactly, they want to pursue for the project, but overall I still find most of the compositions to be more memorable and epic than those on the followup Evolution Purgatory, which I find often runs together for me with the samey-ness that often plagues bands of this style, and while I find When Eden Burns very interesting I don't think it sticks enough to the energetic, thrashy power/speed template here to really scratch quite the same itch (though some tracks there do). Overall, while I wouldn't say Persuader has any albums that I'd recommend skipping or would call bad, with even the newer stuff being enjoyable to me when I've listened to it, I'd recommend starting with The Hunter, both because it's the band's first offering and because I find it to be their best and most interesting, even if I admit nostalgia may be pushing my brain that way to some degree. This is a very solid album in a style that wasn't very prevalent in Europe in this era and helped to kick off a sort of "ballsy power metal" trend that's gained traction in more recent years. If you're a fan of this style, this is definitely one you need to add to your collection.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10