Richard HolmesThe Haunted – Songs Of Last Resort (Century Media)
Want to detonate your most ferocious album in years? You might as well start with a track called Warhead. The Slayerised riffing, Adrian Erlandsson blasting away like he’s still an eager teenager in At The Gates, Marco Aro taking aim at ruthless warmongers… yep, The Haunted 2025 are certainly in the mood for aggro.
Warhead sets the tone for a record which harks back to the band’s early days, where the Swedes’ sizzling death thrash filled an ATG-shaped hole. Certainly, the alt-rock influences of 2011’s Unseen have withered and died, and this opus is several adrenaline surges away from its more mid-paced predecessor, Strength In Numbers.
Maybe the seven years that have passed since Strength... have made The Haunted hungrier. Perhaps, after such a long time out, they feel like they have a point to prove on album number 10.
Whatever the case, Songs Of Last Resort rips into you with gleeful abandon.
In Fire Reborn more than hints at Erlandsson and Jonas Björler’s ‘other’ band… it couldn’t be more Gothenburg if it tried. Fans of Made Me Do It and One Kill Wonder will love it.
Unbound sees the band drop some d-beats in a raw, punky attack.
Through The Fire plunges you into the cauldron of war: riffers Jensen and Ola Englund provide the uranium-tipped ammo.
But that’s not to say The Haunted have lost the subtle metalcraft that made rEVOLVEr, The Dead Eye and indeed, Strength In Numbers, compelling records. To Bleed Out, for instance, is The Haunted at their most refined, with slick melodies gliding over some serious percussive crunch, and a chorus made for Aro’s roar.
And by closing with Letters of Last Resort (based on instructions for submarine commanders to follow if Britain is annihilated) the band give us a chilling finale. The sense of dread takes a while to subside…
…as does the ringing in your ears from this snarling beast of an album.
Given their track record, no one would seriously doubt this band’s ability to deliver. But it’s good to be reminded of their prowess. And it’s nice to feel haunted, once again.
Band photo by Linda Florin.
