"Extremist," the highly anticipated seventh studio album from legendary hard rockers Demon Hunter, smashed its way into the Billboard Top 20, debuting today at an impressive #16 on the Billboard 200.

The #16 debut represents the highest chart debut in the band’s already storied career, eclipsing its previous best set by the #36 debut of Demon Hunter’s celebrated 2012 album "True Defiance". In addition, Extremist also bows at #2 on the Hard Rock Chart, #2 on the Independent Albums Chart and #23 on the Digital Albums chart.

“We’re extremely appreciative of the support from our die-hard fans,” says Demon Hunter frontman Ryan Clark. “We can’t thank you enough for continuing to encourage us 13 years into this band. And to the new fans - thank you as well! Welcome to the family! Also, a special ‘thank you’ to everyone that worked hard to make this record what it is. We’re so proud of it, and so humbled to know it’s appreciated.”

With six prior albums in the books, Extremist shows the Seattle band once again pushing its sound to, well, extremes, with some of the band’s catchiest choruses colliding with a borderline modern doom element. It’s an album that not only plows into new sonic territories, but that stretches Demon Hunter technically with both the pummeling metal and nuanced balladry fans have come to expect from the band, while simultaneously exploring the broad palette of sounds between those poles.

You can pick up Extremist on iTunes now.