The Dear Hunter may be my favorite band of all time. So I think it’s time I do a ranking of their albums, from worst to best. Or, from good to flawless, as they absolutely don’t have a bad album. Note, I won’t be including live albums, The Indigo Child or All Is As It Should Be – only the main studio albums!
The Dear Hunter Albums Ranked
8. Antimai (2022)
7. Migrant (2013)
6. Act I: The Lake South, the River North (2007)
5. The Color Spectrum (2011)
4. Act III: Life and Death (2009)
3. Act II: The Meaning of, And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading (2007)
2. Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional (2016)
1. Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise (2015)
8. Antimai (2022)
While I absolutely stand by the fact that there is no bad album from The Dear Hunter, Antimai is not made to my taste. To cover the positives on the outset, it is perhaps the most musically intricate and inventive of their entire discography. It melds jazzy and retro sounds with tinges of The Dear Hunters classic bombast. It’s musically diverse and the most sonically ambitious project of theirs.
But, I’m not here to purely analyze and pontificate about intricate playing. I’m here to feel, and that’s what The Dear Hunter does better than anyone I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. They make me feel. And unfortunately, this style and direction just doesn’t inspire me to feel much, other than impressed.
7. Migrant (2013)
Migrant is not a huge sonic departure for the band like Antimai, but it’s missing some of the scale that we get from every project above it on the list. I do find myself returning to key songs here, particularly Shame. However, this feels more like a collection of respectable B-sides than a fully-fledged project with a long-term vision.
6. Act I: The Lake South, the River North (2007)
Best Song: The Inquiry of Ms. Terri
Worst Song: 1878
I didn’t include best and worst song until this point because I wasn’t quite as passionate and determined in my opinions on their discography until reaching number 6. This is where the music goes from good, immediately to legendary. Act I is legitimately an S tier album, and it pains me to have to place it so low on this list.
It establishes so many of the music motifs that will follow for the next decade of call-backs. And it melds so many unique and quirky genres in a way I had never witnessed before. Songs like The Pimp and the Priest blow my mind away every time I hear them, even to this day.
The main thing holding this project from greatness for me is unfortunately the length. It’s just too short. And the song that doesn’t quite hit for me, 1878, happens to be the longest of the entire album. It only clocks in around 39 minutes long, and with 7 used on 1878 and a couple on near silence in The River North I just feel compelled to place this one this low.
But I haven’t even mentioned what is clearly a top 5 song from The Dear Hunter. The Inquiry of Ms. Terri. This song is a masterclass in emotion, power, intricate playing, and diverse soundscapes. And it’s preceded by City Escape, forming a one-two punch unmatched in nearly any discography throughout musical history.
Lastly, the production does underwhelm here. As the first project, I’m not fully surprised, but a full remaster or re-recording would make my ears exceedingly happy.
5. The Color Spectrum (2011)
Best Song: Lillian
Worst Song: Progress
The Color Spectrum is a sprawling collection of nine unique EPs. Each EP reflects a color of the color spectrum, from Black and Red all the way to Violet and White.
Each EP explores The Dear Hunter and their traditional awesome sound, but puts a twist based on the color. For example, my favorites are Black and Violet. Black features a lot of industrial, gritty sounds, while Violet features towering vocals and dramatic, theatrical strings.
The best aspect of The Color Spectrum is the diversity. Imagine you could see your favorite band take a stab at 9 different genres – blending them all with their unique sound and charm. That would be a project you would pay a lot of money to witness, I’m sure. That’s what makes this so special.
Of course, with such diversity means there is going to be a higher variation in quality than typically seen in an album from the band. But I’ll take the minor downside with the major upside of quantity here. There is a whopping 36 songs on this album, meaning there will definitely be something for you, even in the weaker colors.
Here is my favorite from each color.
Black: Take More Than You Need
Red: Deny It All
Orange: A Sea of Solid Earth
Yellow: She’s Always Singing
Green: Crow and Cackle
Blue: The Collapse of the Great Tide Cliffs
Indigo: What Time Taught Us
Violet: Lillian
White: Home
But, I recommend you listen and find out for yourself!
4. Act II: The Meaning of, And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading (2007)
Best Song: Where the Road Parts
Worst Song: Vital Vessals Vindicate
The most emo album, and it’s not even close. Where the Road Parts is a glowing example of that, as I don’t know if I’ve ever heard such pained singing from Casey. Red Hands features a more dramatic and heavy ballad option, and Dear Ms. Leading features a more straightforward, pop-punk option. But make no mistake, this entire album is steeped in pop-punk and emo tendencies. And I love it.
There are a few moments on the album where it becomes a bit much. The constant anguish and dramatization of every moment elicits such strong emotions from me, but it can also be slightly a bit much. I mostly notice this when I get to the last track of the album, a nearly 8 minute long reprisal of nearly everything we witnessed thus far.
So yeah, while it can be a lot to take in, it also inspires the most emotion out of me. Try to not feel something out of The Bitter Suite III: Embrace. I dare you. Try to not bop along to The Oracles on the Delphi Express. And try not to sit in awe of The Lake and the River, The Church and the Dime, and The Procession.
Out of all of this though, my favorite moment of the entire record is the end of The Bitter Suite III: Embrace. The bass solo near the end of that song just might be my favorite musical moment ever. It never fails to get me to tear up.
But, this album is slightly longer as far as acts go, and therefore slightly uneven. But I appreciate all the ups and downs!
3. Act III: Life and Death (2009)
Best Song: Mustard Gas
Worst Song: This Beautiful Life
Ahh, another painful one to see ranked so low…
I think the best aspect of Act III is how big it gets. While all of the acts feature big, bombastic sounds, I don’t think anything reaches the heights of Mustard Gas, In Cauda Venenum, He Said He Had a Story or The Tank.
But, it melds this unrelenting heaviness with some of the most beautiful songs you’ve ever heard in your life. What It Means to Be Alone and Life and Death. Both of these are absolutely in contention for best song on the album, despite this one being loaded to the brim with hits.
It even features a song that clearly is calling to Radiohead and Muse with The Thief, a truly underrated gem that I only started fully appreciating recently. Even the “silly” Go Get Your Gun has an undeniable and fun chord progression, making it addictive to come back to from time to time.
In fact, while writing about how awesome this album is, I’m tempted to move it up, so I’m going to have to cut myself off here.
2. Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional (2016)
Best Song: Gloria
Worst Song: The Haves Have Naught
The only reason this album didn’t quite make the top of the list is because of The Haves Have Naught. Unfortunately, that just might be my least favorite song of the entire Dear Hunter discography, although it’s not terrible. Something about the delivery comes off as extremely cheesy though. And I’m a Muse fan, so while I appreciate the cheese, I also know it can be a bit much at times.
With that out of the way, this album perfectly wraps up the entire act saga. It does so with narrative perfection, but more importantly to me, sonic perfection. Straight from Regress through to The Revival features nonstop bangers. Melpomene is a nice song, though not my favorite. Mr. Usher is my second favorite on the entire album – a full circle moment with The Pimp and the Priest all the way back from Act I. And then from Light to A Beginning is perfection.
The reality is though, Act IV and Act V come off as two sides of the same coin. The production is so vastly different from the first 3 acts, but it stays consistent between 4 and 5. As does the quality. The callbacks are relentless and rewarding, the music is complex and meaningful, and every song feels like it dabbles with new and interesting sounds. The most notable for me is Gloria, what I consider to be the magnum opus of Act V. With shifting time signatures and dashing guitars, I simply can’t get enough of this one, all these years later.
1. Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise (2015)
Best Song: Is There Anybody Here?
Worst Song: King of Swords (Reversed)
Is There Anybody Here? is simply my favorite song of all time. And it’s not the best song on this entire album by much.
Waves – a song that could easily be disregarded as the “accessible” song of the album, remains one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard, and an easy entry point into appreciating this underrated band.
Rebirth and The Old Haunt feature a strong and meaningful opening, signifying a sonic departure from the first three acts while bringing in one of the most second halves of any Dear Hunter song.
The Bitter Suite – all 3 on this album are my favorite of the series.
Wait – this one might just be the most straightforward The Dear Hunter song of all time – and makes it one of the hardest hitting as the singer proclaims his shattered faith.
A Night on the Town – a fan favorite that calls back to every single era of the series in a 9 minute musical masterpiece.
I could go on and on about how this might just be the greatest album of all time. I feel like this is the album that broke my faith in the music industry. Because if anything was right in this world, this band would be a household name. But until then, I’ll use every chance I have to proclaim them as one of the greatest to ever do it.
Nightwalk 
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