Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise

"The album is the fourth part in a six-act story. The story follows the conclusion of Act III: Life and Death, in which the protagonist assumes the identity of his deceased half-brother..." Volume four of a six part prog-rock concept album series telling a seemingly convoluted story wouldn't usually be my kind of thing, and put me off listening to it for most of the day. What an error - it's great! I'd need an active listen to pick up on the story, but it sounds super lush. It is obviously theatrical, but stays the right side of corny. I love the way the music rises and falls, and ebbs and flows as (presumably) events occur. Rating: 4.5 Playlist track: Waves Date listened: 20/12/24

Enormous sound. Reminded me a bit of both The Decemberists and Mars Volta, which probably sounds like the most fucked up Venn diagram known to man. Theatrical and over the top, which isn't a bad thing in my book. Feels weird to be thrown into the fourth part of a massive six-part story, but then again, not like it makes this much more incoherent than your average prog rock concept album.

Wonderful! Enjoyed every second of it

Prog metal, with gorgeous meoldies and occasional poppy numbers. Being part four (of six) means I didn't pick up all the nuance of the storyline, but I am a sucker for a concept album - even if I don't fully grasp the concept. Brilliant, and would be a worthy inclusion on the main list (in place of any one of a bunch of filler!)

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: The old haunt, At the end of the earth, A night on the town, The bitter suite IV and V

Interesting! Reminds me a little of the Decemberists in that it's conceptual, literate, and the music is well crafted. I love the Decemberists. This is not quite as appealing to me on first listen, but I could see it growing on me with repeated listens. Will listen again and check out their other material as well. 4 stars.

Like an album for a Disney musical

Not sure why we’d start with part four of six for this album story. This isn’t Star Wars. This album was pretty fine. I d heard the dear hunter before and their style is very enunciated rock music. It’s very refined and focuses heavily the story and a decent playing of varying instrumentals. Overall it’s a bit too over the top in production and doesn’t keep my interest. 5.5/10

Theatrical and exciting! I loved this! I haven’t had enough time to spend with this to really get what is going on, but whatever it is I’m glad because the sound is terrific!

Absolute perfection

Ok, I liked this and it was unexpected. It's probably because I'm a HUGE Incubus fan and the lead singer's voice sounded almost exactly like Brandon Boyd's at times. It's like if Incubus made a true Prog Rock album. If "Is There Anybody Here?" played and I had no idea who it was, I would swear it was Incubus (well, young Incubus). What a head trip. I'll be checking out their other stuff, thanks for sharing this one.

This is charming.

Very cool concept album, and even cooler album cover. This was a fun one to listen to!

Quite a production!

What madness is this? A 6th studio album but listed as Act IV? Pretty darn long. But pretty darn good!

I was wary of another long concept album at first, especially one that made me feel like I had to 3 albums of homework to understand. I didn’t do that but after listening to the album I’m thinking about listening to the rest of the rest of the series. It wasn’t my thing at first then found its groove and I was loving it by the end. It’s not better than hazards of love overall but there are peak songs on here that match it, namely bitter suite 4&5 and is there anybody there.

Heard of this band but never heard this band. This is not what I expected. Coheedish/The Decemberists in concept and sound. Nothing stuck with me and it was overly long, but a great listen.

I was pleasantly taken aback by this album. Fascinating, intriguing, left me wanting more

Partially fun partially wore me out. Favorite: King of Swords (Reversed). On second listen reminded me of Danny Elfman in places, which is a good thing. Upgrading original rating by star.

One of the most surprising or unforeseen things to come out of the late noughts is that the corpse of prog rock -- once murdered by the likes of Rush and Marillion in my own personal fantasy music history book -- got revived by post-hardcore acts such as The Mars Volta (someone needs to add *Frances The Mute* in this list, by the way). The Dear Hunter is another one of those acts and through the long narrative of their "Acts" series (different meaning) they seem to have created the most "exquisite corpse" indeed. Fast forward to 2015's "Act IV", and the post-hardcore undertones have mellowed to a more general prog rock direction, sprinkled with large indie-rock chunks and the expected grand orchestra flourishes. Less original, maybe, but Brian Crescenzo certainly has a knack for memorable choruses and melodic vocal lines. There's a couple of bum notes stylistically speaking on the second half of this record (not too fond of the somewhat heavy-handed -- and probably partly ironic -- "King Of Swords" and "If All Goes Well", which curiously veer towards British landfill indie of the preceding decade). Yet those bum notes aside, The Dear Hunter sure know how to create a dynamic and varied tracklist for that sort of overambitious record. As other reviewers pointed out, starting the story through a middle chapter feels a bit weird, though, and this even if you don't care about the tale in first listens -- I needed to browse through the earlier "Acts" to witness the initial musical direction of this project, and I have to say that I prefer the perfect balance between post-hardcore and prog found in those earlier records. The pompous grandiosity of the later entries, conveyed through increasingly streamlined and lush-sounding production values, can become a little overbearing and even stifling at times. This already occurs in Act IV, and it looks like Act V is even less restrained in this regard. Oh and is this series finished or not? What I've read online suggests an incomplete project, at least if I understand correctly. What's the point if we don't have the end of this story? Plus, it looks like The Dear Hunter also released quite a few *other* concept albums and EPs during their productive career, instead of finishing their main yarn. So I'm wondering now... Is Brian Crescenzo the G.R.R. Martin of indie prog? There are not enough minutes and hours in my days for me to try to find the answers to those questions. I thank the user who submitted this album because it allowed me to know a little more about this project, and I leave the door open to the Dear Hunter in my own virtual list of potential keepers. But honestly, this is the sort of suggestion sending you into an endless rabbit hole, which is always interesting, but can also easily make you feel burnt out when using this generator on a daily basis. I don't know... Maybe I AM burnt out? It's been more than three years now... One album a day, one "review" at a time... Time to take a break? Well... Let's just say that if a Deerhunter LP had been suggested instead of a The Dear Hunter one, I wouldn't feel this worn out.... 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4 8.5/10 for more general purposes. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 19 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 32 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 63 ------- Émile, j'ai enfin trouvé le temps de te répondre ! Désolé pour le retard ! Va voir sous la review du "Funeral Dress" de Wussy au dessus !

This was really interesting, although the concept was a bit lost on me and not particularly discernible from the lyrics. Nevertheless, it was a well played, frequently lovely collection of songs. Instrumentation was rich and nuanced and the vocals were incredibly expressive, although it did get a bit musical theater-y for my taste. Fave Songs: Waves, Is There Anybody Here?, The Line, The Old Haunt, Remembered

I found this pretty odd, and while it was skillfully executed by clearly talented people it didn't do it for me. The tone veered from evoking the kind of classical compositions that are favored for cartoon soundtracks to kind of standard folk-tinged alternative to rock-operatic somewhere on a spectrum between Jesus Christ Superstar and Pink Floyd's The Wall. I gather there was a story but none of it got through to me, and it was very long.

Panic at the disco if they were slightly less interesting

Progressive rock, indie rock, symphonic rock, experimental rock. Ni fu ni fa.

We all had that one friend in college who was obsessed with The Dear Hunter. So much so that it kind of turned you off from ever listening to them. They're fine! Fun, even! Kind of a more polished, less bombastic pop punk outfit. Cool. Good for you, Derek or whatever your name was.

Imagine if My Chemical Romance were completely hooked on Outlander. It's that, basically. Very OTT, actually more fun than I expected.

"Hey, it's me! Your bland mid-2010s progressive rock band." -The Dear Hunter

Interesting album, very theatrical style. I'm keeping a couple songs, though not too much stuck out to me. Not bad though!

This is a nice prog rock/pop concept album. Theatrical and a little too often over the top. Good musicians and interesting lyrics.

I thought we already had this band on the list. Oh that's Deerhunter. Well that's confusing. Oh great a prog rock album. Buckle down for songs that go on way too long. At a "brisk" 75 minutes this was exhausting. Also being thrown into the middle of a story (which I had no idea what it is about from the lyrics) is a bit strange. This really sounds like a soundtrack to a musical. Maybe in the context of a musical I'd enjoy this more but I agree with the comment that this exudes theatre kid energy. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Nope.

Kinda cringe

Its kind of an event... a very theatrical presentation, with strangely a fall out boy like delivery (if it didn't rock too hard). Though the music is well produced and approachable, it feel like it prioritizes lyrical delivery ahead of something that has a hook. I enjoyed the experience but not much stands out.

This is a really great album and tells a good story, but just isn’t my cup of tea. Agree it deserves to make any list, but I’m personally not going to rush back to it.

A little over the top for me and I’m not sure that I’d like it after multiple listens.

I found this all a bit meh. I hated the album cover, but that's by the by, it was generally just a bit flat for me, but I also couldn't really find a reason to dislike it either.

Boy this is a mixed bag of tricks. Some parts are very theatrical (like a musical rock opera or Disney soundtrack) whilst others are straightforward rock ballad fare. I applaud the intention and it exhibits a lot of talent but it's not my thing so I would be suprised if I pay this again.

May 27, 2025 HL: "If All Goes Well", "The Line", "Ouroboros" 'I don't know what the hell is going on in the most wonderful way' Don't know if it's because my brain finally caught up to my ears, but the 2nd half sounded better to me than the 1st. 10/10 for ambition; has some intriguing musical direction ("The Bitter Suite") but also some songs that were pop-minded to the point of distraction ("Waves")

Good, but not my style. I’m rarely able to follow the ”story” when listening to concept albums. Strange place to end also

Not sure why we're starting at Act IV but here we are. Prog rock in the 21st century sounded a lot different than it did in its golden years of the '70s. Songwriting became more focused on long, winding moments that emphasized theatrical execution rather than jazz-inspired jams. This can be partially attributed to the massive reupholstering of the rock opera thanks to Dream Theater, who leaned heavily into the narrative framing of fanciful stage plays. Combine this with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's success in wide orchestral arrangements incorporated into rock music, and you have something that resembles The Dear Hunter. Over the course of a decade, bandleader Casey Crescenzo would record a series of albums that told an over-arching story which he had mapped out after being kicked out of his previous band. If this sounds like an overwhelming undertaking, it's because it probably is. This sort of project is more than what can be reasonably accommodated by the scope of modern popular music, so we can only really absorb the thing in fragments. Which is why we're here listening to Act IV instead of the whole Dear Hunter story, because it was much more accessible to do so over the course of the 10 years as the albums were being released one-by-one. So, you just had to be there, I guess. If Act IV is meant to be the best of The Dear Hunter's works, then I'd say that they're pretty good! Lots of polish, well-constructed songs, very pretty overall. It's a very Big album in the sense that it's this sprawling rock opera that wants to tell an epic story with sweeping orchestral parts and a myriad of other rock influences (Beach Boys, ELO, the Decemberists). Which isn't a bad thing because it does all of that fairly well, but it falls short of being something I would be massively into because it's just not to my taste. And that's okay! Not everything is meant for me, and this is bound to resonate with those who enjoy this sort of theatrical romp through progressive rock. Perhaps if you have a Tumblr account, this is something you would enjoy. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Too far downstream from other prog rock bands that are not already on the list. Maybe if Dream Theater gets on there.

This had it's moment where I was like: ok! This is taking off on a promising path! But each time they managed to bring it back to a sort of Disney-on-Ice type alternative rock opera.

High concept indie isn't something I really like. I could hear their suspenders, beards and haircuts. 2/5.

Lots of these extended, narrative LPs have been added recently and they just don’t do it for me. This is supposedly the 4th installment of this band’s narrative series, and while the effort is incredibly impressive I have no clue really what’s going on without the additional context (musical or lyrical) of the three other albums. In this instance, I have to take everything at face value, and with many of these tracks feeling very similar melodically it’s a little exhausting to sit through 1.25 hours of theater kid level dramatics without a strong connection to why any of this matters. The execution is great, but at the end of the day this isn’t a standalone LP and it suffers from being presented here on its own.

This was so extremely long whatever it was supposed to be. Calm down

Bizarrely 4 tracks only on Spotify

What in the lame emo was this. Not good! And way too long. Cringe embarrassing lyrics

Honestly, I didn't find it relevant, they don't have anything that makes them special and it could be music from any average band and I even found it tiring since it doesn't seem to have a single hit in more than an hour of duration.

74 minutes of overindulgence. Sounds a bit like if Muse were trying to do long-form, and I'm not here for that. As for the selection of it - do you really, genuinely think that this stands up as an album? On its own, not being part of the series? Well I sure don't.. This is bullshit.