The Haunted - Exit Wounds

Published October 06 2014

*=Staff's pick	317 Cutting Teeth* My Salvation Psychonaut* Eye Of The Storm Trend Killer* Time (Will Not Heal) All I Have Temptation My Enemy Kill The Light This War Infiltrator* Ghost In The Machine

Genre	Thrash Metal/Mel. Death Metal	Marco Aro	Vocals
Tracks	14	Patrik Jensen	Guitar
Running time	44 Min.	Ola Englund	Guitar
Label	Century Media	Jonas Björler	Bass
Release	25 August 2014	Adrian Erlandsson	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Producer	Tue Madsen
Similar artists	At The Gates, The Crown

After some turbulence in 2012 leading to three band members leaving the band in 2012, The Haunted reformed last year with Marco Aro and Adrian Erlandsson returning on vocals and drums, respectively, and Ola Englund taking up the lead guitar duties. Now comes Exit Wounds, the group's eighth album

The album opens up with a short intro track followed by Cutting Teeth, which immediately explodes into maximum speed with full force. It's a very powerful and confident song with good riffs, fierce drumming and Marco Aro screaming at the top of his lungs. While Peter Dolving perhaps has more character to his voice than Aro, Cutting Teeth reminds me of how much I've missed the brutality and sheer force in Aro's singing.

Much like Made Me Do It and One Kill Wonder, Exit Wounds is a much more straightforward thrash metal album than the Dolving albums, which of course has its pros and cons. It's more consistent, more brutal and less experimental and it's up to the listener to determine whether that's a good development or not. Personally, with the exception of the fantastic rEVOLVEr, I'm inclided to prefer the more brutal sides to The Haunted and you can rest assured that there still are a lot of smart melodies and tempo changes present. I have no remarks regarding the production, really. It's clear, powerful and reminiscent of One Kill Wonder while not sounding outdated.

Naturally, some songs stand out more than others. Psychonaut and Trend Killer have choruses that stick like glue, and Infiltrator pretty much sums up everything that I like with The Haunted - energy, brutality and a lot of Slayer vibes woven into the mix. Naturally, in a 14-track album there's almost bound to be some inconsistencies, quality-wise. My Salvation, Time (Will Not Heal) and All I Have are among the more forgettable songs of the album, in my opinion.

I wouldn't call any song on the album bad, however. Although some songs stand out more than others, even the songs that fail to leave a lasting impression on me seem to have well-constructed melodies and brilliant guitar solos. Exit Wounds is no One Kill Wonder or rEVOLVEr, but it's indeed a strong album that puts The Haunted back on the map and shows that they're still a force to be reckoned with.

See also review of: Unseen , Versus , The Dead Eye

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	6	8	7	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Bjorn