The Crocodile Hunter All 5 Volumes (10 Shows), Animal Planet

It’s been almost a decade since Casey Crescenzo brought The Dear Hunter - both the band and the character of the same name - to life with his 2006 debut full-length, Act I: The Lake South, The River North. This record revealed Crescenzo’s incredibly inventive and ambitious musical flair, something which has been evolving ever since. The two albums which followed - 2007’s Act II: The Meaning Of, And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading and 2009’s Act III: Life And Death - cemented the artist as a maverick, idiosyncratic talent whose music, while fitting a modern aesthetic, was also from a bygone era…

In the decade that The Dear Hunter has existed, Casey Crescenzo, the mastermind behind the concept, has been nothing short of both prolific and creative. Now past the halfway point in this 6 part series, The Dear Hunter sounds more cinematic and opera-esque than ever, while still being very much a prog-rock listen at its core. At over 70 minutes and songs as long as 9 minutes, there’s a wealth of sounds here, including jazz, orchestral, dance and rock, and it isn’t uncommon for guitars to take a backseat to keys, flutes, trumpets, etc. If you’re a fan of Crescenzo’s harder moments, there’s enough here to keep you satisfied, but the classical and softer moments dominate and illuminate the album.

While fans of The Dear Hunter have been waiting in anticipation for the prospective 'Act IV', Casey Crescenzo and the band sent something a little different our way, although equally as exciting; not one, but nine EPs released simultaneously. This project is called 'The Color Spectrum', and each of the EPs is a four song set that is meant to reflect whatever given mood each color evokes. It is granted that nine releases is a pretty difficult chunk to digest all at once, and especially considering that the EPs are currently only available on vinyl, it is a bit of an investment for someone that might only want for of a single album's experience. Luckily, The Dear Hunter did opt to release an album version of 'The Color Spectrum'; a selection of songs from each of the EPs that is meant to give a taste of what the project is all about…