 | Tracklist:
1. Hate Song
2. Chasm
3. In Vein
4. Undead
5. Choke Hold
6. Three Times
7. Bullet Hole
8. Now You Know
9. Shattered
10. Soul Fracture
11. Blood Rust
12. Forensick
| Ranking: #109 for 1998 | |
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On 6 Lists
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| Summary: From the ashes of At the Gates rises a completely different sounding band |
2 of 3 thought this review was well written
Peter Dolving - vocals
Anders Björler - lead guitar
Patrik Jensen - rhythm guitar
Jonas Björler - bass guitar
Adrian Erlandsson - drums
After the premature demise of At the Gates, the Björler twins and drummer Adrian Erlandsson found themselves a new guitarist in Patrik Jensen (Witchery, Séance) and another vocalist in Peter Dolving. With At the Gates being one of the pioneers of the Swedish death metal movement, it was logical to expect that The Haunted would play melodeath but on The Haunted, the Björler twins take their Slayer worship to the next level and they distance themselves from what they did in their previous band.
When At the Gates set out to record Slaughter of the Soul, their goal was to make another Reign in Blood, the Slayer album they considered to be the pinnacle of the genre. What they created was clearly Slayer influenced but they added their own touch with their melodic guitar leads and unique vocals that were more punk than metal. On The Haunted, the band also has a unique vocalist whose vocals are more hardcore influenced but the guitarwork is just a Slayer imitation. Unlike Slaughter of the Soul where they took inspiration from Slayer and made that sound their own with a more melodic twist, The Haunted seems content to simply take that thrash influence and add nothing more to it than hardcore sounding vocals.
There are a few hints of melody throughout The Haunted, the rhythm section complements it nicely, but it’s most straight thrash riffing throughout. Adding to the monotony of the guitarwork are the strained, hardcore-like vocals which are effective only in small doses. The hyper aggressive vocals work wonderfully on tracks like ‘In Vein’ with a welcome change-of-pace sung chorus which heightens the impact of Dolving’s impassioned screams. As the album goes along, Dolving’s vocals are harder and harder to listen to and his singing on the final song ‘Blood Rust’ comes as a very welcome surprise and help to break up the monotony of the majority of the album.
Maybe At the Gates guitarist Martin Larsson was the one who steered the band in a more melodic direction or the remaining members decided to go in a different direction, but this band could hardly be considered melodeath, which isn’t a bad thing but it would be obvious to expect that. I guess there’s a big difference between “Swedish death metal” and “death/thrash metal from Sweden.”
Recommended tracks:
In Vein
Hate Song
Blood Rust
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 2.5
'In Vein' is a killer track but everything else is very average
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Never checked out older Haunted stuff.
One Kill Wonder was always my fave album.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
One Kill Wonder was always my fave album.
same for me, the reason: different vocalist
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this band never really did it for me, I always found them to be very average
Digging: Meshuggah - Koloss
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I agree with somberlain
Digging: Social Distortion - Sex, Love and Rock'n'Roll Digging: Social Distortion - Sex, Love and Rock'n'Roll
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Good review somberlain, I probably won't bother with this although I'll check out that "In Vein" track.
Digging: Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites Digging: Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I dig this a little more than you, but the review is very well-constructed and I actually agree with a decent amount of what you're saying.
I happen to like Dolving's vocals quite a bit actually, but he's much better on rEVOLVEr than this. I feel like the grooves on this album are tighter than most of what you hear from Slayer or the littany of other old school thrash bands.
In Vein, Bullet Hole and Chasm all fucking rule. Hate Song gets the adrenaline pumping too. Another thing to note about this disc is that The Haunted were basically the ONLY band playing thrash at that time -- not even Slayer was doing it anymore.
Digging: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music Digging: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music | | |
Nice review man. Really hate everything I've ever heard from this band.
Digging: Steamy Ray Vaughan - A Little Bit of Rattlesnake Digging: Steamy Ray Vaughan - A Little Bit of Rattlesnake
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Hate this band so much
Digging: Mount Eerie - Clear Moon
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I guess it's a good thing that I've stayed away from these guys.
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Yeah Jingle you would hate this.
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The middle of the record loses it a little, but the openers are fucking cool
Digging: Joy Division - Closer Digging: Joy Division - Closer
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
^agreed, although I really dig Bullet Hole
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
I happen to like Dolving's vocals quite a bit actually, but he's much better on rEVOLVEr than this
I hate rEVOLVEr, the albums I like from this band are their 2nd and 3rd, with Marco on vocals
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