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The Haunted: rEVOLVEr

06/04/12 || BamaHammer

Everyone loves The Haunted. If you don’t, you really should. They’ve got something for everyone. They’ve got their thrashalicious debut that everyone except me greatly enjoys. They’ve got their experimental modern rock/metal opus “The dead eye,” which I adore. They’ve also got everything in between, which is exactly where “rEVOLVEr” happens to fall. This is one of The Haunted’s more vicious sounding releases, but there are obvious leanings toward that polarizing direction the band would ultimately pursue, and the result is one damn fine record.

The guitar tone is sharp enough to painlessly castrate a horse, and it makes the whole album sound pretty ruthlessly aggressive and a lot meaner than anything the band had produced since their debut. Jensen and the brothers Björler have never sounded sharper or tighter as a unit, and that makes the riffing on tracks like “99” with all of its odd off-beat moments sound absolutely incredible. As far as the rhythm and the actual music is concerned, this album could possibly mark the band’s finest hour (well, 45 minutes anyway). Per M. Jensen is a fucken machine on the drums on this one too. Every fill and lick is tasty and perfectly executed, and it’s not often that the prevailing angry sentiments of a thrash album can come out in a drumming performance. Well done, sir.

However, after the disappointment that was “One kill wonder” (and honestly it was the follow-up to “Made me do it,” so what did we expect?), The Haunted traded in Marco Aro for their old flame, Peter Dolving, so this album was destined to have a different sound from their previous two. Personally, I feel like Dolving fits the band much better than Aro, but that’s a different argument for a different time. On “rEVOLVEr” though, Dolving introduced fans of the band to a sporadically placed crooning vocal style in songs like “Abysmal” or “Burnt to a shell” which served really as a predecessor for what was to come with the band. The sound ultimately would become The Haunted’s calling card, and this was the album where all that started it all.

My only beef with “rEVOLVEr” is that since day one with it, the album has always failed to finish strong. There are tons of tasty tracks like “No Compromise” or “99” or the awesome “All Against All” or even the slower, creepy “Burnt to a Shell,” but there are entirely too many songs, especially ones toward the end of the record, that I find myself getting bored with for this album to be truly revered as a classic. The good tracks you’ll find on here are unbelievably excellent. However, the not-so-good tracks are ones you’ll undoubtedly skip every time they rear their hideously ugly head.

In the end, though, “rEVOLVEr” is an essential notch in the belt of any real fan of The Haunted. If you like the band and Dolving, you’ll like this, for the most part. Some may even refer to this album as the last truly great thrash record by The Haunted, and they would even present a compelling case. The truth is that “rEVOLVEr” marked the real turning point for the band. It’s their moment on the exit ramp to get off the thrash highway when decided to experiment more with their sound and push their limits beyond the constraints of just aggressive thrash metal.

Information
Released: 2004
Label: Century Media
Website: www.the-haunted.com
Band
Peter Dolving: vocals
Jonas Björler: guitars
Patrik Jensen: guitars
Anders Björler: bass
Per M. Jensen: drums

Tracklist
01. No Compromise
02. 99
03. Abysmal
04. Sabotage
05. All Against All
06. Sweet Relief
07. Burnt to a Shell
08. Who Will Decide
09. Nothing Right
10. Liquid Burns
11. My Shadow

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