Review of the Album Called "the Haunted" by Swedish Thrash Band the Haunted

Gothenburg Sweden’s groovy thrash and death metal band The Haunted set the highest mark for heaviness and brutality with their self-titled debut called The Haunted. Peter Dolving has vocals so loud and terrifying that he even beats vocalist Sami Halme of St. Hood. This may be the heaviest thrash metal album that some of you may hear and there are two main reasons for this:

"The Haunted" is a band that for this self-titled debut had the following members:
Peter Dolving
Anders Bjorler
Patrik Jensen
Jonas Bjorler
Adrian Erlandsson
For this album the band was under contract with the British record label Earache Records.

The band’s musical style in this debut resembles Slayer and even there is a little Sepultura influence in the song called Chasm with a little tapping part. The Haunted was formed following the disbandment of the band At the Gates. Peter Dolving may actually be a rougher version of Phil Anselmo and he shows this on the song called In Vein. In Vein is the first song that I ever heard from these guys and I was immediately impressed.

In the song Undead, the lead guitar is influenced by Kerry King of the band Slayer. The song Choke Hold has a bit of a Cannibal Corpse influence in the guitar playing. The song called Three Times is a song about what can happen to someone who commits a crime three times. When the offense is so severe, the punishment must also fit the crime. The first few notes of the song sound like Megadeth’s song Hook in Mouth. Peter Dolving’s harsh shouts are pretty good evidence that The Haunted are one of the heaviest thrash bands ever to play in the music business. The song called Now You Know is a song about what can happen if you live a life of lies you will be nothing good, yet that is what happens to some people as they lose hope. The next song called Shattered is just a straight ahead brutal thrash song that once again has a Sepultura influence. For those of you that remember the song Desperate Cry you will remember that tapping part. Peter Dolving whispers the word shattered as the song gets heavy again. The question that should be asked as we near the end of this album is how much heavier can this band get as Peter’s vocals rise even higher in the song called Soul Fracture. The song called Forensick is a song that really criticizes the mainstream media for its coverage of the news because there is so much dedication to violence. It is a common assumption that this type of news really sells. The song is just spoken narration about the flaws of the news media.

For those of you that may be wondering whether this album can be considered a thrash metal gem it comes pretty close to that, near the level of Kreator’s Enemy of God though Kreator is more melodic while The Haunted is a band that is louder, faster, and heavier. The Haunted’s debut album gets a very solid 92 out of 100 points however, they still cannot quite match Finland’s St. Hood. Or can they? In 2020, The Haunted are still strong and active as a band while St. Hood has not released any new material for a long time. Listening to the amazing power of the riffs on the song called “Hate Song” I can clearly see that these guys showed even back in 1998 that they had the potential to be a great thrash metal band. As of 2020, The Haunted is better as a band then St. Hood.