Review by Rick Eaglestone for MPM
It has been eight long years but now Swedish standard setters for aggressive modern metal The Haunted have returned with their tenth studio album Songs of Last Resort
In the very studio that Status Quo recorded Rockin’ All Over The World there is a new surge of fury as opener Warhead sets a welcome tone like a familiar hug wrapped in barbed wire with thunderous drums and equally fast riffs it certainly bodes well for the remainder of the album, and it moves into the grooves of In Fire Reborn with a narrative of terrifying reality
Continuing to blaze away through Death To The Crown and future live favourite the bass laden To Bleed Out demonstrate that The Haunted are prepared to incorporate a cloud of ominous notes to really amplify the overall aesthetic of this newly crafted collection.
Unbound injects a certain level of nostalgia with a fresh twist whilst Hell is Wasted On the Dead goes straight for the jugular with technical and well produced ferocity.
“All those albums that we put out in the past, I stand by them,” states Jensen. “That’s just where the band was at those stages. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is where Black Sabbath were at that point time, you know? So you can be nerdy and see it as a kind of time document. On this album, I’ll be totally honest, we sound 20 years younger! It just came from nowhere. Everything gelled. We just wrote from the gut and from the heart. When people hear it, I hope they’re gonna say ‘Fuck yeah, this is a Haunted album!’”
The album has a real feel of cohesiveness and collaboration to it which is apparent on Through The Fire with Collateral Carnage feeling it was exhumed straight from the 90’s.
Short interlude Blood Clots still manages to keep the intensity level high as compliments Salvation Recalled nicely with Labyrinth of Lies dripping in the remnants of Slayer’s South of Heaven Era.
The cinematic ending of Final Track Letters of Last Resort really underpins the murky nature of the album overall as it pertains to the handwritten letters from the Prime Minister of the UK, sent to the commanders of the four British ballistic missile submarines, and containing instructions for what to do in the event that the British government has been destroyed by a nuclear attack which really struck a chord with rhythm guitarist Jensen which is why the band see this as an anti-war album.
Overall Songs of Last Resort is wonderfully constructed with a strong message and culminates with a staggering, career-best performance.
Adventurous and uncompromising
Songs of Last Resort track listing:
1. Warhead
2. In Fire Reborn
3. Death to the Crown
4. To Bleed Out
5. Unbound
6. Hell is Wasted on the Dead
7. Through the Fire
8. Collateral Carnage
9. Blood Clots
10. Salvation Recalled
11. Labyrinth of Lies
12. Letters of Last Resort
Line-up:
Marco Aro – lead vocals
Jensen – rhythm guitar
Ola Englund – rhythm & lead guitar
Jonas Björler – bass, backing vocals
Adrian Erlandsson – drums.
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8/10
