UMUR
Versus is the 6th full-length studio album by Swedish thrash metal act The Haunted. After the brilliance of rEVOLVEr (2004) I was slightly disappointed with The Dead Eye (2006) which flirted a bit too much with alternative metal for my taste.
With Versus, The Haunted return a bit more to their core thrash metal sound but there are still some alternative metal elements left. Everything on the album except the vocals are recorded live in the same room which gives the album a more raw sound than the more polished predecessor much to my satisfaction. Supposedly that´s how the debut album by The Haunted was recorded too. If you didn´t know it, I´m not sure you would notice it though. The production is actually very good. The vocals still vary between aggressive screaming/ shouting vocals and clean vocals.
I rate Versus much like I rate The Dead Eye. It´s a great album by The Haunted, but it doesn´t reach the hights of their best efforts and therefore a 3.5 star rating is deserved. The return to a more raw sound is a step forward IMO, but they can easily take the raw approach a step further if you ask me.