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The Haunted - Exit Wounds review




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Reviewer:
7.9

110 users:
7.46
Band: The Haunted
Album: Exit Wounds
Release date: August 2014


01. 317
02. Cutting Teeth
03. My Salvation
04. Psychonaut
05. Eye Of The Storm
06. Trend Killer
07. Time (Will Not Heal)
08. All I Have
09. Temptation
10. My Enemy
11. Kill The Light
12. This War
13. Infiltrator
14. Ghost In The Machine
15. As The Poison Sets In [mediabook edition bonus]
16. The Manifestation [mediabook edition bonus]

Jesus, does anyone remember how bad The Unseen was? Good God, we all knew The Haunted weren't what they used to be, but that just got out of hand. Now it's time for The Haunted to make amends for dropping that Rise Against-tribute-turd on us. Let's just say this about Exit Wounds: Apology accepted.

I have to be honest, when the band re-vamped/re-formed with old members after The Unseen train-wreck, it smelled like a band who shit their pants and were grasping for straws to cover up the stink. Well, I admit it, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Aggression. That's really the missing key that's made a very welcome return with Exit Wounds. This takes the really bassy riff work from Witchery and slams it together with the groove of Entombed (though frequently gets more furious than either.) Sprinkle a few dashes of some typical Gothenburg melodic leads, and you've got the basic picture. No description can do justice to a lot of these riffs - thick, maniacal, and above all else, catchy as all hell. In fact, take a listen to "Trend Killer"; probably the catchiest song ever recorded...since Ke$ha's "Timber". And yet, despite the catchy-ass riffs, bassist Jonas Björler and vocalist Marco Aro completely steal the show.

So it's better than The Unseen, that wasn't exactly what you'd consider a tremendous achievement. The real question is; is it as good as their old stuff? No. In fact, at times it sounds like they're trying desperately to recreate what made them a household name in the first place. That being said, trying to beat your own best and coming up just a little short ain't too bad. Exit Wounds is still the best work they've recorded in a decade.





Written on 25.08.2014 by Former EIC. Now just a reviewer guy.


Comments

Comments: 5   Visited by: 222 users
25.08.2014 - 08:35
Rating: 8
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
Written by deadone on 25.08.2014 at 08:20

Interesting review.

Is it better than Versus or in any way comparable to their first 4?

I liked it better than Versus...from what I can remember of Versus. As far as the first 4...Comparable, but certainly not better by any means. In the ballpark I guess.
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"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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25.08.2014 - 16:59
Boxcar Willy
yr a kook
I had "The Haunted Made Me Do It" in my truck for awhile and there was just something about I that annoyed me and I feel like it was the production. Maybe I'll check this out even though NOTHING can be as catchy as Timber.
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14:22 - Marcel Hubregtse
I do your mum

DESTROY DRUM TRIGGERS
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26.08.2014 - 00:41
metal2head

Great review!
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26.08.2014 - 05:29
Buddha Boom

This album is awesome... Could be their best yet? Other reviews have given 9-9.5/10... Some thing of it reminds me of Sepulturas Arise in parts... Lots of energy and aggressive with some groove thrown in... I liked all their albums before unseen for different reasons and both singers and drummers... But this is a stand out album from The Haunted... Must listen...
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05.09.2014 - 00:02
Rating: 8
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
Written by Buddha Boom on 26.08.2014 at 05:29

This album is awesome... Could be their best yet? Other reviews have given 9-9.5/10...

I think people tend to overreact when a band bounces back from a crap album. Take Children Of Bodom for example - they released the awful Are You Dead Yet?, and every album after that was hailed by several reviewers as a return to form, when in retrospect, they were all still pretty bad (even if just a little better). Even Halo Of Blood, which was significantly better than AYDY is still just an OK album at best, yet it still got praised as a full-fledged awesome return to form.

...Not to say this album is as low as recent COB stuff, but it's just a parallel - people get excited when a band shits the bed and follows that up with something less shitty.

Exit Wounds is still pretty solid nonetheless
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"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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