Review of the Album "the Dead Eye" by Swedish Band the Haunted

Swedish death and thrash metal band The Haunted has had the habit and tendency to create some of the heaviest thrash metal known to modern man and this is especially evident with the return of Peter Dolving. He made his return for 2004’s Revolver. In 2006, The Haunted released the album called “The Dead Eye” and this one early on has more than just hardcore shouts and heavy riffs. Every song in this album begins with the word “the.” This may be “The Haunted’s” finest album in their career because their self-titled one was heavy, hard-hitting and proved to be just a warm up exercise for what would come later. This review is more than just an album review. It is a sort of bold statement to try and point out that Sweden is a country that heavy metal fans in North America should pay attention to because these guys are so talented it is scary how good they can be.

I know that some of you may think the band’s name is cheesy but what is offered here on this album as well as their debut is thrash metal that is entertaining. It is not as entertaining as Germany’s Tankard, but the riffing along with the super heavy thrash metal sound is superb! Peter’s voice is more hardcore style whereas Marco Aro has shouting with a death metal style mixed in. We also see the band go a little in a more progressive direction while still not abandoning what they are skilled at. Throughout their career, The Haunted has been more of a death metal style band with Marco Aro while being mostly thrash metal with Peter Dolving who has basically become the best hardcore shouter after Pantera broke up and Phil Anselmo went to do work with Superjoint Ritual.

Peter Dolving: all vocals

Patrik Jensen: guitars

Anders Bjorler: guitars

Jonas Bjorler: bass guitars

Per M. Jensen: drums

The Haunted can be thought of as a hybrid between thrash metal, groove metal, hardcore, and sometimes death metal.

With this 5^th album, this Swedish band further strengthens their standing not just in Sweden but in the world as Peter’s softer vocals are a welcome treat and it shows that he can sing and make it matter. Phil Anselmo was great in 1990 and 1992 when he was in his 20’s but Peter Dolving can sing high and low in his late 30’s and leave Anselmo out to dry because Dolving used his full potential while Anselmo wasted his in 1994 and he got even worse by the 2000’s. Phil strained his voice and tried to do too much while Peter Dolving uses his vocal range to his advantage. Peter Dolving is now 51 years old now but he can probably still be a very good thrash metal singer. Phil Anselmo had his strong years and now it is time for others to assume the mantle so to speak. This is a baseball metaphor and it basically means that it is time for younger talent to take over in the thrash metal scene such as David Sanchez (Havok) and the mentioned Dolving though he is not that young anymore. This article isn’t about Peter Dolving specifically, but on this album he does a better job on the vocals because he uses a clean vocal approach as well. He does excellent!

So how great is this 2006 album for Sweden’s “The Haunted?” The Premonition is a melodic short instrumental and then…. The party begins as we are treated to one superb song after another. Sweden is one of the kings of the world when it comes to heavy metal, being so far ahead of the United States it is not even funny! As of 2016, the US has 323 million people and Sweden is a country that has just over 5 million and their musical genius is just present in multiple genres. The US was great in crossover and thrash metal in the 1980’s and early 1990’s before Europe took over in that category. Sure, the US has solid bands like Mastodon and Havok but that’s not even enough to compete with Sweden. Now that this has been said, the next song called “The Medication” is a song that is trying to point out that being on medication to treat various conditions such as depression makes the issue even worse. The US is currently one of the most medicated countries in the world and we see how that has worked out. I also notice that in song 6 called “The Prosecution” Dolving sounds a little like vocalist Karl Agell (ex-Corrosion of Conformity).

The song is actually about being against those that are greedy and use their cronies to take advantage of others. I think most people can infer who has been making the news headlines because of his tendency to be greedy and take advantage of others.

The Fallout is a song about coming to terms with your troubled past and just erasing it for good. As Dolving utters that last line before the song slows down, he gives Phil Anselmo a run for his money in the vocal range category! Overall, the 2006 album called “The Dead Eye” is a superb melodic thrash metal effort and is anybody paying attention to these guys? If they are not, they definitely should. Words about this album do not do enough justice and through the second time listening to this album, I see just how great of an album it is with no bad songs!