2025 is The Haunted’s year!
Absent from the studio for eight years, Jonas Björler (bass, At the Gates), Adrian Erlandsson (drums, At the Gates, The Lurking Fear, ex-Brujeria, ex-Cradle of Filth, ex-Paradise Lost… ), Patrik Jensen (guitar, Witchery, live for The Halo Effect), Marco Aro (vocals, ex-The Resistance) and Ola Englund (guitar, Feared, ex-Six Feet Under) renew their contract with Century Media for the release of their tenth album, Songs Of Last Resort.
Warhead kicks off with a strange eerie sound, but it doesn’t take long for the cutting riffs to emerge, welcoming the ferocious vocal parts that reinforce the assault and drive us to headbang. Leads are a perfect complement to the thick rhythm, just as they are on In Fire Reborn, which quickly takes over, revealing its striking force without delay, while remaining anchored in a heady melodic touch on the intense, sometimes even slightly melancholy choruses. The solo only reinforces the Old School sound, as does Death to the Crown, which suddenly bursts into flames and becomes very aggressive with a simple but direct and catchy jerky rhythm, but the track slows down and becomes heavier before joining To Bleed Out, which takes a more aerial approach. The riffs maintain a fairly steady pace while adding their epic leads to the choruses, then the wildest roots are unleashed with Unbound, while taking advantage of all its influences to make the track virulent. There’s a heavy palm-mute at the end, followed by a raw groove on Hell is Wasted on the Dead, which stomps us mercilessly and takes advantage of its Thrash roots to lay down a quasi-permanent blast. Through the Fire features similar patterns, largely conducive to a live mosh, a promising feature also found on Collateral Carnage which – although its intro is quite intriguing – gets heavier and offers new massive influences, but also those soothing dissonance points. Harmonics also fly on Blood Clots, a kind of interlude that lets us breathe for a while before Salvation Recalled melts over us without mercy, bringing out the musicians’ wildest instincts. The end of the album draws nearer with Labyrinth of Lies, a slower, more mysterious track that relies on dissonant leads and remains fairly ethereal until it reaches the ominous Letters of Last Resort, which explodes fairly regularly and gives us our last headbanging sessions before bringing the album to a close.
The Haunted’s comeback is more than a success! If the Swedes were already in top form on stage, Songs Of Last Resort proves their determination and raw power with new tracks that remain perfectly in the vein of their previous releases.
90/100