2000s Demon Hunter was initially conceived as a project band by the Clarks, who had played together previously in the initially
Coalesce and
Neurosis influenced but later more experimental band
Training for Utopia. Ryan had previously played guitar in hardcore band
Focal Point, who released a studio album,
Suffering of the Masses, on
Tooth & Nail Records in 1996 when Ryan was a teenager. Demon Hunter first appeared on
This Is Solid State Vol. 3, released on February 26, 2002, which included a demo of the band's song "Through the Black". Demon Hunter's
self-titled debut album was released on October 22, 2002 on the Tooth & Nail Records subsidiary
Solid State Records. Ryan and Don wrote all of the songs, performed the majority of the instruments (with Ryan singing as he had in TFU) and hired Jesse Sprinkle, formerly of
Poor Old Lu, to record drum tracks. The members of the band initially chose to hide or obscure their identities in photos and in the press. Their names were revealed when they undertook their first tour, which featured Norwegian Christian metal band
Extol, and death metal-influenced
metalcore band
The Agony Scene, and after they hired Jesse Sprinkle on drums,
Jon Dunn on bass, and Kris McCaddon, formerly of
Embodyment and
Society's Finest, on lead guitar. and
Fuse TV, along with single "My Heartstrings Come Undone" being placed on the
Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack. The album featured four guest vocal appearances, including Mike Williams of
The Agony Scene on "Beheaded", Brock Lindow of
36 Crazyfists on "Beauty Through The Eyes of a Predator",
Howard Jones from
Killswitch Engage on "Our Faces Fall Apart", and
Trevor McNevan of
Thousand Foot Krutch on "Coffin Builder". Demon Hunter hit the road that summer with McCaddon on lead guitar and Dunn on bass, along with new touring drummer
Timothy "Yogi" Watts, as Jesse Sprinkle could not make the tour. This time, Demon Hunter took with them rock/
post-hardcore band
Dead Poetic, along with metalcore band
Haste the Day. Post-hardcore band
Staple replaced Haste the Day towards the end of the tour. In 2005, Demon Hunter went back to The Compound in
Seattle, Washington to record their third studio album, entitled
The Triptych. The word "
triptych" centers around the concept of three, as it was the band's third album. Included on the album is a cover of
Prong's song "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck". This album debuted Watts as Sprinkle's permanent replacement on drums (Jesse having joined Dead Poetic) as well as the addition of
Ethan Luck as lead guitarist and backing vocalist, replacing Kris McCaddon.
The Triptych was even bigger than
Summer of Darkness, selling more than twice as many records on its first week of release than
Summer of Darkness had. "Undying" was the band's first single from this album, and was also made into a music video directed by Chris Sims. Demon Hunter's only 2006 tour took place over the summer with
Zao,
Becoming the Archetype,
August Burns Red, and
Spoken. The band shot a video for "One Thousand Apologies" after the tour was over, with director
Darren Doane at the helm.
The Triptych was re-released on October 31, 2006, with a DVD accompanying the album, and four extra songs added to the original album. The hard rock and heavy metal based magazine,
Revolver, published a cover story on Christian metal in December 2006, featuring what the magazine called "The Holy Alliance":
Spencer Chamberlain from
Underoath,
Ryan Clark from Demon Hunter,
Tim Lambesis from
As I Lay Dying, and
Cory Brandan Putman from
Norma Jean. Demon Hunter entered the studio in June 2007 to record their fourth full-length album,
Storm the Gates of Hell, which was released on November 6, 2007. Solid State released three versions of the album with various bonuses. "Fading Away" was the album's first single and music video. In spite of the bands secular popularity, they continued to support the underground
Christian metal scene by appearing on obscure radio programs such as The Full Armor of God Broadcast in January 2008. On March 13, 2008, "Carry Me Down" debuted on
Headbangers Balls website as the album's second music video, and made its television premiere on March 15 on the same show. In 2008, the band headlined the "Stronger Than Hell" tour, which started May 26 in
Seattle, Washington. The tour featured the recently reunited Christian metal forefathers
Living Sacrifice, whose lead singer
Bruce Fitzhugh was featured as a guest vocalist on
Storm the Gates of Hells track titled "Sixteen". The tour also included
Oh, Sleeper,
The Famine, and
Advent. This tour completed July 5, 2008, at
Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois. Demon Hunter released
45 Days in November 2008, a
box set comprising two DVDs and a CD containing a documentary film about the band and their fans, a pro-shot performance from the "Stronger Than Hell" tour, and a brand new score written exclusively for the film along with two bonus tracks.
45 Days was directed by Cale Glendening. A live album,
Live in Nashville, was released on January 27, 2009; it includes 14 songs from their show in Nashville, Tennessee, from their "Stronger Than Hell" tour. The album features
The Showdown lead guitarist
Patrick Judge, who filled in for Luck on several of the "Stronger Than Hell" dates due to Luck's conflicting scheduling commitments as drummer for
Relient K. Judge also filled in for Brian Leppke of metalcore band
Bleeding Through when he was unable to turn up for the Thrash and Burn tour in May. In August 2009, Don Clark left the band to pursue his graphic designer career, and to be with his family. Ethan Luck also left, as he could not keep up with the hectic schedule of being in both Demon Hunter and Relient K. On August 28, Demon Hunter released an official statement with a new band photograph, stating that Patrick Judge was the new, permanent replacement for Luck. However, the statement made no mention of
Randy Torres's joining the band; a new band photograph included him as well. An official replacement for Don Clark was announced in Demon Hunter's exclusive fan club, The Blessed Resistance, with the announcement of
Ryan Helm, formerly of
The Ascendicate, as the band's new permanent rhythm guitarist.
2010s (2010) Demon Hunter released
The World Is a Thorn, their fifth studio album, on March 9, 2010. It featured guest vocals by
Dave Peters of
Throwdown in "Feel As Though You Could",
Christian Älvestam of
Miseration in "Just Breathe", and
Björn "Speed" Strid of
Soilwork featured in the single "Collapsing". The album debuted at No. 39 on the
Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 14,000. The band joined
As I Lay Dying on tour in March, marking the first time Demon Hunter ever toured as a supporting act, rather than the headliner.
Blessthefall and
War of Ages were also on the bill. Demon Hunter released an anthology of their first three albums on March 8, 2011, titled
Death, a Destination. In December 2011,
Ryan Helm announced that he would be leaving Demon Hunter to concentrate on his solo project,
Damien Deadson. Helm stated that the departure, "was inevitable; however, it was on good terms." In January 2012, it was announced on the
Solid State Records website that Jeremiah Scott, bassist for
The Showdown, had joined the band in the position of rhythm guitar. Their sixth full-length album,
True Defiance, released April 10, 2012, was a commercial success, reaching No. 36 on the
Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the
Top Christian Albums chart; it received generally positive to mixed reviews. A month before the album was released, Demon Hunter released the song "My Destiny" as the first official single from the album and released "Someone to Hate" and "Dead Flowers" as promotional singles. The band also released a deluxe edition of the album that included two bonus songs, "What is Left" and "I Am a Stone". In July 2012, the band toured for the album along with
Bleeding Through,
Cancer Bats, and
The Plot in You. Not long after, they also announced a tour in the countries of Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia in South America. The band was part of a tour called "Another Year Another Tour", their first tour of 2013, alongside headline act
In Flames, as well two other bands,
All Shall Perish, and
Battlecross. Demon Hunter began releasing teaser posts on January 30, 2014, related to seventh full-length album
Extremist, which was released on March 18, 2014. Demon Hunter released the album's first single, "Artificial Light", on their YouTube account February 13, 2014, and also released websites to pre-order their new album. "The Last One Alive", and "I Will Fail You" were eventually released as promotional singles shortly after.
Extremist debuted at No. 16 on the
Billboard 200 selling approximately 18,000 copies in the first week of release. This is the band's highest chart debut, being 20 steps higher than their highly regarded previous effort,
True Defiance which debuted at No. 36. In August 2014, the band went on a brief tour with
Red and
Veridia. The band's first and only concert in 2015 was at Uprise Festival in
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Demon Hunter officially released their eighth studio album,
Outlive, on Solid State Records on March 31, 2017. In December 2016, they released the first single for
Outlive: "Cold Winter Sun". On February 15, 2017, they announced that a music video for their second single "Died In My Sleep" would be released. On December 3, 2018, the band announced two albums—
War and
Peace—were scheduled to be released in March 2019. Demon Hunter released both albums on March 1, 2019. On March 16, 2019, the two albums made it into top 5 of the
Billboard Christian Albums with
War in the second place and
Peace in the third place.
2020s On November 10, 2020, the band announced their first acoustic album,
Songs of Death and Resurrection, which would feature acoustic renditions of songs such as "Dead Flowers" and "The Heart of a Graveyard", as well as featuring a new song, "Praise the Void", which would be released on March 5, 2021. On December 15, 2021, it was announced that
Richie Faulkner of
Judas Priest recorded a guitar solo for Demon Hunter's album,
Exile, later announced for release on September 9, 2022, then delayed to October 28, 2022. The band quickly released three singles, "Freedom is Dead", "Silence the World", and "Defense Mechanism", the latter two featuring
Tom S. Englund (
Evergrey) and
Max Cavalera (ex-
Sepultura,
Soulfly) respectively, all released through their self-founded record label, Weapons MFG. Demon Hunter started writing a follow-up album to
Exile as early as October in 2022, shortly before their new album's release. On February 10, 2023, the band released a b-side from the
Exile recording sessions, "The Brink", which had been an exclusive song to Demon Hunter's fan club, The Blessed Resistance, in 2022. On October 6, 2023, the band released another single, "Some of Us", currently as a standalone single. This was followed by other standalone singles, "Worlds Apart", on March 1, 2024, and "Black Stained Glass" on May 10, 2024. On February 7th, 2025, alternative rock band Set the Sun released a collaboration with Demon Hunter titled "Falling Apart". On May 2, 2025, Demon Hunter released the single “I’m Done”, and on June 6, 2025, they released the single “Light Bends”. Another single, “Sorrow Light The Way”, was released on July 4th, 2025. On July 28th, 2025, the band announced their twelfth studio album,
There Was a Light Here, which was released on September 12th, 2025. The band are confirmed to be making an appearance at
Welcome to Rockville, which will take place in
Daytona Beach, Florida in May 2026. ==Christianity==