UMUR "rEVOLVEr" is the fourth full-length studio album by Swedish thrash metal act The Haunted. The album was released through Century Media Records in October 2004. It´s the successor to "One Kill Wonder" from 2003 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as lead vocalist Marco Aro left to concentrate on his family. He is replaced here by Peter Dolving, who also performed on the band´s 1998 debut album, so it´s a return to the fold for him.

The change on the lead vocalist spot is rather significant for the sound on "rEVOLVEr". While Aro is a raw semi-growling type vocalist, Dolving has evolved quite a bit since his performance on The Haunted´s debut album, and now possesses a highly aggressive and raw thrash/hardcore vocal style. He also performs a few clean vocal parts to great effect (his clean vocal intro to "Abysmal" is for example very effectful). The clean vocal parts are few and far between though, and the raw vocals are Dolving´s primary vocal style on "rEVOLVEr". The instrumental part of the music is still energetic and fast-paced thrash metal and occasionally mid-paced, groove laden, and heavy thrash metal too. I hear a few melodic elements (for example the main riff on "All Against All") which wasn´t something you heard often on "One Kill Wonder (2003)", but "rEVOLVEr" is not a melodic thrash metal album by any means. Raw aggression and high energy compositions are predominantly the order of the day.

The album is loaded with killer riffs, catchy sing/scream along vocal parts, and powerful organic drumming, which drive the music forward in an irresistable fashion. The Slayer influence which was always strong on the preceding releases is less apparent here, although it´s definitely still there. Just take a listen to the riffs on the middle section of "99" or the tapped part of the guitar solo on the same track, which must almost be a homage to the tapped part of the guitar solo on the title track from Slayer´s 1990 "Seasons in the Abyss" album.

There´s not a single sub par track on the album, but if highlights have to be mentioned I´ll mention the opening trio of tracks "No Compromise", "99", and "Abysmal", as absolutely crushing material but at the same time fully displaying the variation of the band´s music. Closing track "My Shadow" deserves a special mention too for its use of non-distorted guitars and strong clean singing/spoken word sections from Dolving. It´s not always it sounds pretty when extreme metal singers decide to perform clean vocals, but damn Dolving is as great singing clean vocals as he is performing his caustic raw vocals. There is some real personality on display here and you believe him when he describes himself (It could be another person, but I interpret the lyrics to be personal) in a self-loathing way on the chorus of "Abysmal", singing the lines: "This one is abysmal, This is a oneway ticket down, Some say there ain't nothing to lose, but I lost that too, So what am I gonna do now?". There´s just something incredibly convincing about his commanding delivery which has great impact on the listener.

"rEVOLVEr" features a sharp, raw, and heavy sound production, which suits the rawness and energy of the material perfectly. While "One Kill Wonder (2003)" is certainly a great album in its own right, "rEVOLVEr" is a step up in songwriting quality and especially in performances. Not that the band weren´t energetic and aggressive in the past, but Dolving´s return seems to have given them an extra energy boost, and you´ll be hard pressed to mention another contemporary thrash metal release as vibrant, sharp, and hard edged as "rEVOLVEr". To my ears it´s a seminal post-2000 thrash metal release and of course a mandatory listen for fans of the genre. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is fully deserved.