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The Haunted is a Swedish speed metal band started in 1996 by former members of At The Gates, Seance, and the vocalist from Mary Beats Jane. The band’s self-titled debut album was released in 1998 on Earache records, offering an updated, modernized approach to speed metal bands like Slayer and Dark Angel, with hardcore shouting vocals. Dolving and the drummer departed, and the band’s slightly more death metal influenced second album, The Haunted...Made Me Do It was released in 2000 with vocalist Marco Aro. After a live album, the band released one more full-length studio recording with Aro, One Kill Wonder in 2003. Dolving then returned, and The Haunted have since released two more albums, rEVOLVEr in 2004 and The Dead Eye in 2006.
The Haunted
This album is the only significant release from The
Haunted. The combination of raging speed metal executed by these expert players
with roots in death metal and the ferociously angry hardcore shouting of Dolving
makes for a blistering and relentlessly attacking sound. Most of the riffs are
textbook, the rhythmic attack follows standard methods, and the songs are
structured in the traditional style of speed metal composition, but it is the
overwhelming energy from the spirit of the music that rises through and enhances
the music beyond the generic. This is its extent as a work of metal. It never
goes higher than this, but what it aims for it thoroughly nails: Immediacy of
blunt force savagery using the stylistic commonalities of traditional speed
metal updated in its attack to meet the demands of modern expectations. Running Time: 41:01 Line-Up
Jensen - Riff ala Tractor-pulling Production: Recorded and mixed in Studio Fredman, Goteborg Sverige Nov - Dec 1997. Engineered by Fredrik Nordstrom. Produced by The haunted and Fredrik Nordstrom. Mixed by Fredrik Nordstrom. The Haunted The melodic death metal these guys are known for in their past endeavors creeps into the sound here, particularly the streamlined melody of At The Gates' Slaughter Of The Soul. There's just a lack of substance both in what the band is saying and the method of communication, since it aims merely for surface appeal through commonly expected standards of metal of this time. At one time these musicians were pioneers, yet now seem content to operate within pre-established forms, paying tribute to their original influences rather than push themselves towards higher accomplishments for personal achievement and that of metal in general. This music is angry, fast, urgent, and violent. It stops there, with nothing much to say. Tracklisting Running Time: 36:09 Line-Up Marco Aro - Vocals
The Haunted Discography |
