Now this is a real bomb. Who would expect such a kickass album from a genre that most metal fans were considering finished? But even the most optimistic ones were definitely not expecting this explosion. The self-titled album of the swedish The Haunted came up to give some really mean lessons of violent and aggressive thrash metal, having in the same time respect in the old-school, but also given with a modern way.

The Haunted were born from the ashes of the most legendary and influential swedish death metal band (along with Entombed), At The Gates, featuring actually three members of the line-up of that band. Despite this fact, one should not expect too many similarities between the music of these bands, except of course of the excellent quality of extreme music they offer. Under a very simple but quite effective album cover that reminds some underground horror movies of older decades, The Haunted focused more on a Slayer-based thrash pathway which featured fast and “insane” riffing, an incredibly tight rhythm section, lyrics about general violence subjects and all materials needed for their mission of violence to be completed successfully.

From the opening track “Hate Song” (the title does not leave many chances for misunderstandings) until the last one “Forensick”, which is a slow speed bizarre outro track with spoken words, The Haunted offer some great extreme music filtered through a prism that gives to the album a very nice modern direction without any signs of negative results. There should not be any kind of misunderstandings with the word “modern” about any nu-metal (aka un-metal) shit, since the band was and still is 101% metal! If I had to, I would choose “Bullet Hole” as my favorite song, maybe because it was the first I heard off the album, but well, not even a single average tune was recorded here. The band keeps here a very high level of performance and this album includes some of the best and most aggressive thrash metal vocals I have heard; too bad that the vocalist Peter Dolving left the band after the debut.

KJP / October 2003

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01. Hate Song
02. Chasm
03. In Vein
04. Undead
05. Choke Hold
06. Three Times
07. Bullet Hole
08. Now You Know
09. Shattered
10. Soul Fracture
11. Blood Rust
12. Forensick

The expectations were very high after their crashing and very successful debut, which proved to be one of the most important albums of its time, since it had a great influence on the whole thrash metal movement and its new rise which gave the appropriate motive to lots of bands to play thrash again. The Haunted managed to handle the situation perfect again, despite the fact that their vocalist Peter Dolving had left the band and was replaced by Marco Aro. My personal opinion is that Dolving was better, but that’s a matter of taste and the truth is that Marco Aro is in any case very good and has all the skills of an outstanding thrash metal performer. Also, here plays for the first time their new drummer, Per Moller Jensen (ex-Invocator, Konkhra, Artillery), leaving only two ex-At The Gates member in the band.

The debut follow-up album carried a provoking title that could give a good reason to many “youngsters’ protection” organizations to go after them and that’s a good proof about the band’s intentions, but also humour concerning the way many people face metal in general. Music-wise the band simply continued what they had started. Having gone a small step forwards concerning some discreet experimentations, but having the trademark style The Haunted had created, a great new generation thrash metal album was born for once more. Starting with a 1,5 minute instrumental extremely good tune getting you straight into the album’s atmosphere, things get clear again. Modern thrash metal that can make even the most inflexible neck bang non-stop, high speeds, a rhythm section that shakes the whole building and that’s it! Aggressiveness in its own kingdom! Amazing tracks like “Bury You Dead”, “Leech”, “The World Burns” and “Under The Surface” are of that kind which will smash your skull on the wall and split the brains all around, with you asking for more!

“The Haunted Made Me Do It” is a very decent follow-up album and it manages to stand in front of the amazing debut without fear. Maybe it didn’t make so much noise as that one, something absolutely understandable, but most important thing is that it’s a great outstanding album and it continues the phenomenon of The Haunted.

KJP / October 2003

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