A Review of Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional by The Dear Hunter

As always, we begin with a rough plot summary of the album. I'll reiterate just how rough it is seeing as how the album did just come out 3 days ago but I feel like it's about as accurate as we could hope for (source of the plot summary can be found here).

Act V: The Oracles appear once again to remind The Boy of his fate but realize there's nothing more to be said to avoid his demise, they only hope it comes swiftly for him.

The Boy remains under The Priest/Pimp control due to him knowing of The Boy's false identity and using it as blackmail. The Boy is ashamed of the situation he's currently in and wonders if there's any possible way it can be fixed.

After a night of wandering the city, The Boy finds himself at the church late at night by himself, lamenting about the stresses of being mayor. The Boy feels like he's constantly watched and everything he tries to do to help the people, it's met with heavy criticism from the very people he's vowed to help.

The Boy wakes up the next morning at the church, The Priest/Pimp is delivering as sermon about the devil and a gambler and how you can be stuck on a worsening path, straying from what you originally intended. The boy tries to determine exactly where he falls in that story: the devil or the gambler. The Boy realizes the only way he can escape the grasp of The Priest/Pimp is if he waits for the right moment. As The Boy leaves, he's confronted by The Priest/Pimp to talk about the grand re-opening of The Dime.

The Dime has been transformed into a bigger, shinier monster that is now mainly a casino; the brothel aspect of The Dime is now reserved for the high rollers. The Boy realizes that he's been fueling this evil in the city as mayor and realizes he's in too deep with The Priest/Pimp and doesn't see a way he can break free.

In the crowd, The Boy spots Ms. Leading, interacting for the first time since their troubled romance in Act II, they realized just how much time has healed them. The Boy drops his guard and forgives her.

Mr. Usher makes his way into The City. he came because he heard of the great success The Dime has had recently and wants in on it. He finds a way to be hired at The Dime as an enforcer and puts together a plan to get rid of The Priest/Pimp and realizes the power The Boy possesses as The Mayor, even though he's being controlled by The Priest/Pimp.

Mr. Usher approaches The Boy about his plan to get rid of The Priest/Pimp, pointing out how much better the good people of The City would be off without him. The Boy is hesitant to agree to go along with this plan so Mr. Usher leaves him to think on it.

It's revealed that The Boy and The Lover had a son (The Child) and The Boy speaks (I'm thinking it's through a letter?)  to his son, admitting to all he's done and hopes his son doesn't repeat those mistakes and hopes to see him grow up to be a man.

The Boy dreams of his mother giving him courage to join Mr. Usher in his plan. The Boy realizes this is the chance he's been waiting for and there's no backing down. The Boy and Mr. Usher begin with their plan.

Mr. Usher confronts The Priest/Pimp for being a hypocrite. Mr Usher explains that the empire the Priest/Pimp built is going to fall and it's time for him to leave. As Mr. Usher distracts The Priest/Pimp, The Boy sneaks into The Dime and sets it on fire. Mr. Usher gathers what he can steal from the burning Dime and leaves the city.

The Priest/Pimp pieces together that The Boy is behind The Dime burning down and calls out to the crowd of people gathered outside the burning building and outs The Boy as a deceiver and he's not who he says he is. The people are told The Boy is a demon that they must rid the city of. The people agree and form a mob to take The Boy.

The Boy admits that he ran for mayor under a false identity and owns who he really is but takes this opportunity to attack the Priest/Pimp, ultimately killing him. The crowd witnesses the murder and swarm The Boy.

The crowd attacks The Boy to the verge of death but disperse once they're satisfied that he will die soon from the injuries. The Boy is left alone in a heap and becomes scared that in death, he will be met by only darkness. However, in his final moments, he sees his mother, his half-brother and others that cared for him in the past and he's no longer scared as this is a new beginning that's been waiting for him patiently.

You can purchase and listen to Act V by clicking here.

Kue:  At long last, Act V has dropped. After Act IV very much felt like the denouement, what exactly does Act V have to offer the story? From my opinion, it felt like an easily digestible summary of the entire narrative. This album is by far the most mainstream sounding album of the five, and I mean that in the most positive sense. The tone seems to hit all points of the story, and though making a cliff notes version of the previous four albums may sound like a recipe for something lacking cohesiveness, Dear Hunter pulls it off with minimal consequence. To nitpick, some of the tracks could have been ordered a bit better, but when the songs are as diverse and appealing as they are in this album, the sequential errors are barely noticeable and don't really effect the fluidity at all

This album is my second favorite of the series. Standout tracks include “The Moon/Awake”, “The Revival” (such a dope track), “Mr Usher (On His Way to Town)”, “Light”, and “A Beginning”. This was a fantastic series to review, and the Dear Hunter have certainly gained a new fan in me.  

Chris: This album as the unfortunate luck of following such a masterful album in Act IV, let alone only a year after it was released so by that unrealistic expectation, I found myself having a difficult time initially getting into this album as it's own entity and not just something trying to best what preceded it. It took a couple listens and diving into the plot and finally sometime yesterday afternoon, it all clicked and this album became a delicious drug that I had become hopelessly addicted to. There's so many tiny nods to previous Acts in both lyrics and musical beats. It even goes a step beyond that because there's several moments that felt like they were reaching outside of the Acts and were referencing songs in The Color Spectrum. The instrumentation was incredible, the horn sound in The Revival is intoxicating and there's a small but noticeable squealing clarinet riff in during Mr. Usher (On His Way to Town) that I (as a former clarinet player) found both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. It's a very quick riff but it sticks in an amazing way and left an impression on me. Act IV set the musical table, so to speak, and then Act V devoured what was on that table.

As for the plot, it was a lot of the action fans had been waiting to see since the beginning, for the deserved revenge to finally take place. The Beginning is an incredible piece that felt like a more optimistic, hopeful version of the end of Dr. Faustus. It's a fitting end(?) for a main character that we saw grow up, make mistakes but always meant well and only desired to seek justice for his mother; to do what his mother often wished she could do.

And lead singer Casey Crescenzo did confirm that there will be, in fact, an Act VI. No idea where they could possibly go from here from a plot perspective but that won't stifle my excitement over it. But whenever Act VI comes out, we'll be back to review it.