Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Haunted, The
Label: Century Media
Released: 2006
“This album is simply more diverse, dynamic and heavy as fuck. Look forward to an album we’re all extremely proud of…” (Peter Dolving)
For those of you who’ve somehow managed to miss it until now: The Haunted were born from the ashes of the influential, legendary Swedish death metal outfit At The Gates, plus the bands Witchery and Face Down, and they stand as one of the key cornerstones of the Scandinavian melodic death metal scene, with its epicenter in Gothenburg.
Two years after the fifth studio masterpiece rEVOLVER, which topped and outclassed its four predecessors, a fresh treat is landing on our shelves – The Dead Eye. Stylistically you could call the band a blend of thrash metal and melodic death metal, and on the vocal front it’s practically impossible to miss the open flirting with hardcore, which is no cheap shot. This isn’t just the bare-bones recycling of worn-out phrases and empty modulations of stuff that’s been said a thousand times.
The guitar duels between Anders Björler and Patrik Jensen are balanced by a full-bodied bass and drum foundation, with the fearless audacity and honesty of Dolving’s take on the darkest corners of the human soul and mind skillfully woven into it; the vocals are raw, but can also slip into the softer textures of melodic singing, which never gets syrupy.
The Dead Eye is a confident, cohesive whole from the first chord of the opener ‘The Premonition’, a track just under a minute long that promises a new sonic assassination attempt on unsuspecting listeners. On the delicate ones who expect mercy and flower planting. Production duties went to Tue Medsen again, who’s partly to blame for the sound of albums by Kataklysm and Himsa, among others. With tracks like ‘The Flood’, ‘The Medication’, ‘The Prosecution’ and ‘The Stain’, The Haunted string together one reason after another for orgiastic headbanging. For pulverizing your neck vertebrae… The carefully measured breathers in between are really slowed-down thrashy sentimental moments like Reflection and The Fallout, while for my taste the ten-minute closer, Guilt Trip, drags on too long, fading out after a three-minute breather into feedback and piano chords, a Manson-style invitation to leave this world for hell. No other complaints.
Honestly, it’s hard to draw a coherent comparison between the first five records. They drained our blood already with the debut The Haunted, then carried on with a changed lineup and Marco Aro on The Haunted Made Me Do It; One Kill Wonder pierced even the most granite-hard heart of anyone who’s even a little bit of a true thrash-death metal audiophile, and rEVOLVER finished off whatever handful of skeptics might have been left, earning standing ovations and nothing but encouraging, more-than-approving reviews. If I compare the outpourings of melody and brutal noise to some other achievement, The Dead Eye most resembles Come Clarity by In Flames. I wouldn’t count it among their greatest peaks, nor is it my favorite The Haunted record, but it’s a very assured and honest piece of work that doesn’t disappoint in quality from the first track to the last. The Haunted have once again proven that they more than deserve a spot among the best-sounding names in metal today. Until now they’ve been relatively overlooked – at least judging by the handful of lucky people who got to see them on our stages, where they did the grunt work as the support act for Cradlle Of Filth, while abroad they’ve shared stages from day one with names like Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse, Dimmu Borgir, Entombed and I could go on. They absolutely deserve more attention than they’ve gotten (here at home) so far, but at the same time I quietly hope it doesn’t happen, because under the beams of the media spotlight even the most solid and honest bands have crumbled and fallen. I won’t name names. Maybe it wouldn’t go that way with The Haunted. Until then, the fact remains that extreme music has never sounded so deep and personal as it does with The Haunted. Eros and Thanatos have found their balance. The Haunted finished what they started and bewitched and cursed me to such an extent that the eternal craving for bigger doses is completely normal and obvious, and until the next possible gig I’ll have to satisfy myself with daily listening to the entire The Haunted discography. No room for any other compromises!
Lineup
Peter Dolving – vocals
Anders Björler – guitar
Patrik Jensen – guitar
Jonas Björler – bass
Per Möller Jensen – drums
Production
Tue Madsen
Track list
1. The Premonition (0:58)
2. The Flood (4:07)
3. The Medication (3:10)
4. The Drowning (4:13)
5. The Reflection (3:47)
6. The Prosecution (3:50)
7. The Fallout (4:22)
8. The Medusa (4:05)
9. The Highwire (0:50)
10. The Shifter (2:55)
11. The Cynic (3:48)
12. The Failure (5:10)
13. The Stain (4:14)
14. The Program (4:55)
15. The Guilt Trip (5:02)
Album length:55:02
