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.

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 !

Big Coheed vibes on this record. about halfway between a Broadway musical and a progressive rock record. The full experience is getting into the story and understanding the characters involved and i just cant do that working.

There's something about this I enjoyed, just not quite sure what it is. It's familiar somehow. Reminds me of Panic! At The Disco or maybe Fallout Boy a little, but there's something else. Enjoyable, but I didn't love it.

Like an album for a Disney musical

I liked the music. The story is convoluted and a total waste of time. But the music was good.

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

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

Enjoyed this, complex and engaging music

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.

Epic, ambitious but not as painfully pretentious as I was concerned it would be. 3 points for the music and vocals and then a bonus point for the mammoth scale of the product.

I saw that this was part four in a modern prog collection, and I was concerned, to say the least. This was so very listenable, though. Reminded me more of The Decemberists than any other prog rock.

Interesting cross between symphonic prog sensibilities and alt rock. I dug it, and will probably go back to hear the other albums in the cycle. I did not like how the album just... ended. It definitely made you think "wait, is there more?" Top tracks: "The Old Haunt," "A Night On the Town"

Indie prog! Story-style concept album, it does a great job evoking the grandiosity of 1970s Genesis, without fully copycatting an outdated era like how Marillion tried to do it. I enjoyed this a lot, though I'm not sure yet if I plan to check out the other Acts of this thing.

Quite a fun album to listen to

Its heteronym time on the user submission list! And both Deerhunter and The Dear Hunter are modern bands that I am not familiar with but greatly enjoyed. The Dear Hunter does some great genre bending around progressive, indie, and emo rock, and the orchestral and theatrical elements often work very well. However, sometimes they skew to a more carnivalesque or baroque pop sound that I don't enjoy as much. I definitely liked Casey Crescenzo's vocals, which often seemed somewhere in between Brandon Boyd and Claudio Sanchez. Dropping into part four of a six-part concept may have helped me just focus on the music, but it did leave me curious to explore more of The Dear Hunter and Crescenzo's post-hardcore band.

Not sure if starting with the fourth of six is the best way to get people into a story, but the album was good and it doesn’t seem like the story necessarily needs to be listened to in chronological order. Given the lack of context and the length of the album, it would take a couple listens to really appreciate everything that’s going on with this album. I enjoyed the lyrics and production and instrumentation and vocals and songwriting all well enough. Some parts stood out as strong and no parts annoyed me so I would say you made a good pick. Well done. 4/5

I was expecting a heavy metal album but this was a pleasant surprise. Really cool sound and concept.

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

It was good, I'll have to give it a couple more listens.

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.

Lot to take in here. Has echoes of Decemberist and Porcupine Tree. Think this requires more than one listen. Sounds good.

A bit eclectic.

Interesting concept. I think I need to spend some more time with it.

Theatrical? Absolutely. At times, it veers into full Broadway territory. But there’s also undeniably strong songwriting here, the kind that demands attention even when the style might not be your thing. “Is There Anybody Here?” channels Pink Floyd and Steven Wilson with eerie accuracy. “King of Swords (Reversed)” is almost a direct Talking Heads track: tight, danceable, strange in just the right way. And “Bitter Suite IV & V” could easily be mistaken for a Decemberists song, right down to the dramatic vocal phrasing and lyrical storytelling. At points, it’s hard to tell whether these moments are homage or borderline mimicry. But it’s all so recognisable that it becomes oddly fascinating. Like musical cosplay done with reverence and skill. This is not a casual listen. It's a sprawling, intricate rock opera filled with genre nods and theatrical bombast. But if you enjoy connecting the dots between influences, and don't mind a bit of drama, there’s a lot to appreciate here.

Lite väl pretentiöst kanske. Låter lite som Panic at the disco, My chemical romance, Imagine dragons och Bastille. Ja, kanske lite Kings of leon också. Inga större fel dock.

Canciones bien elaboradas. Sensación de escuchar temas ya escuchados de otros grupos. No los destacaría en nada en especial, más allá de tener cierto ritmo y ser variado musicalmente. Puede sonar a mezcla de Imagine Dragons, Robbie Williams,...

Pleasant enough but it feels like stuff Genesis did better & 40 years earlier.

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

The Dear Hunter is a band that I’m slightly acquainted with, but one that I haven’t thought about in a really long time. A friend of mine is a big fan of theirs, and back in the early 2010’s, he let me borrow a couple of albums of theirs. I know that I at least listened to Act I, but I don’t remember anything about it, and it’s not in my Apple Music library any more. I have to be honest, I’m not super jazzed about an hour-plus prog album, but maybe this will surprise me. I haven’t been converted into a Dear Hunter fan, but this album was better than I was expecting. Musically, this album was full of bright and beautiful arrangements. The overall sound was huge, but it never felt over-the-top. I was really surprised at how lush and cheerful the arrangements were, and I really enjoyed the way the vocal were arranged, especially the harmonies. For the fourth part of a large and sweeping story, I found this album to be pretty accessible to jump into. The biggest drawback about this album was its length, and I found it pretty tedious at times. Personally, I’m not big on rock operas, and lyrics that contain sweeping epics usually aren’t my jam, and that was mostly the case here. As far as favorite songs on the album go, I really liked “King of Swords.” I loved the dance heavy beat, and the guitar playing and horns were awesome. It did feel a little out of place to me on this album, but I didn’t care, because it was a blast, and it got me more invested in the last stretch of the album.

It's well-crafted. Not generic, not too weird. Big orchestral sound. There's really nothing wrong with it, but somehow I can't connect with this album at all.

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.

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

When I saw this album pop up, I thought I was getting Deerhunter. This is not as good as that

There's a lot going on in Rebirth In Reprise, it's modern prog and apparently the fourth instalment in a six-part composition that isn't finished. Go figure, that doesn't matter to me though. The first half of the album is quite prog heavy then it turns into something almost out of musical theatre, but not a particularly good example of it either. It moves far too quickly between genres for me to really feel settled in and able to enjoy it; A Night On The Town is modern pop, Is There Anybody There is like an updated Pink Floyd sound, The Squeaky Wheel is early 2000s indie pop, The Bitter Suite IV and V is West End/Broadway chaos. That's a 25-minute, four-track run into the back half of the album and it doesn't really work for me. Then there's another 25 minutes after it and it's similarly all over the map (Wait, near the end, is my sort of thing and my favourite song). With a positive spin you can say there's something in here for everyone because it makes for a great sound here and there, it's well-produced and well performed, but it's just not coherent. 2/5, others will like it lots more than me.

Catching a vibe... Attempting to catch a vibe rn shut up... Alright yeah singing the singing be like wooo oouuu and that's just not the exact thing that I'm looking for don't know man just don't know about this rn trying to catch a vibe tho...

Progressive rock, indie rock, symphonic rock, experimental rock. Voceones.

Stuff from 10ish years ago is the most dated stuff ever. This is hipster cringe.

The fourth album in a six-act story? Blimey. I may have missed the first three, but there's no way I'm going to binge on a catch up. The final two acts can do one, as well. I'm being harsh. This wasn't the rock opera shit I was expecting. It's almost soft rock, sounding like an album from 1979, not 2015. One for the committed.

Started interesting but was diminishing returns, too long but pretty

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.

I listened to this album a couple of hours ago, but didn't have a chance to write a review. To be honest, I have no recollection of any of the songs or the music as a whole, aside from the fact that it was painfully ordinary.

I have never heard of this band. It wasn't bad by any means, just pretty straightforward and boring, and overly long. I will not listen to this again.

Dear Hunter, No. Overblown stadium sing-a-long indie.