Band:	Hunter
Album:	Medeis
Style:	Alternative metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	2003

01. Fallen
02. Fantasmagoria
03. So...
04. Greed
05. Grabasz...
06. Mirror of War
07. Siedem
08. Why?
09. Nikt
10. Lo¿a Szyderców
11. Kiedy Umieram

It took 8 years for Hunter to finish up their sophomore record. A long period, and it shows in the music on Medeis. It's not just an improved version of their debut Requiem. While their first record could be described as thrash, the reviewed album is nowhere near that category. Thankfully, they didn't focus on copying another genre, but came up with something original. Back in the day the band used to call their music "soul metal", but apparently realized that they didn't impress anybody with that tag and now they call their music "just metal".

Okay, so I've mentioned changes in the musical style presented by the band, so now you're probably wondering what is it exactly. First sounds of the album convince that Hunter focused more on creating atmosphere than heavy metal pounding. To do that, they decided to include a wider range of instruments, so apart from not-so-unusual keyboards we also get to hear violin and sitar. They undoubtedly enrich the band's sound, but do not dominate the album, so healthy proportions of regular riffing and some non-metal strangeness are maintained. The thing that makes this album attractive is the melodies. This is not classic heavy metal, so don't expect anthemic or ultra-melodic vocal lines, but some of them like "Fallen", "Greed" or "Nikt" are really catchy. Apart from the hypnotic and rather slow tracks there are three that finally let us bang our heads. These are aggressive "Mirror of War", punky "So?" and the aforementioned "Nikt". The band still didn't decide whether to sing in English or Polish. So 5 songs are in English, 6 in Polish. It's really strange to see that situation, it's like they didn't know whether to focus on the Polish market or try to expand their music abroad.

Anyway, this is a good record, some songs really stand out and make the listener go back to the album. A pity they didn't make all of their songs that interesting (and they had 8 years to do that), but Medeis is a sign of the musical development of the band, who are on their way to create their own, unique style.