THE HAUNTED — Exit Wounds (review)

THE HAUNTED — Exit Wounds album cover Album · 2014 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Exit Wounds" is the 8th full-length studio album by Swedish thrash metal act The Haunted. The album was released through Century Media Records in August 2014. There have been quite a few lineup changes since "Unseen (2011)" as lead vocalist Peter Dolving has left for a second time and has been replaced by another former Haunted vocalist in Marco Aro (who sang on "The Haunted Made Me Do It (2000)" and on "One Kill Wonder (2003)"), guitarist Anders Björler has been replaced by Ola Englund, and Per M. Jensen has been replaced by new drummer Adrian Erlandsson. The latter was an original member of the band from 1996 - 1999 and played on the band´s self-titled 1996 debut full-length studio album. The only usual suspects left in the lineup on "Exit Wounds" are Patrik Jensen (guitars) and Jonas Björler (bass). So there´s basically been a complete reorganization of the lineup, but with a couple of familiar faces joining.

From the opening notes of "Cutting Teeth" (which follows the short intro "317") it´s obvious that the lineup changes haven´t had much effect on the band´s signature thrash metal sound, because this sounds unmistakably like The Haunted. Since his first tenure with the band Marco Aro has developed a less semi-growling vocal style and now has adopted a more hardcore shouting vocal style not completely unlike his predecessor. He still sounds rather gruff and semi-growling at times though, so this is not metalcore vocals or anything like that. Stylistically I´d say "Exit Wounds" easily could have been the missing link between "rEVOLVEr (2004)" and "The Dead Eye (2006)". It´s got the savage aggression and thrash metal speed and heaviness of the former (and a sound production that´s not far from it either) and the more melodic elements from the latter. There´s obviously been a wish among the songwriting team to write music with nods toward that period of the band´s career (which was arguably also their most successful period) and to not pursue the more alternative oriented sound of "Unseen (2011)".

And they succeed in that to a certain degree, because the material on the 14 track, 44:08 minutes long album are pretty solid, very well performed (even though Marco Aro is a slightly one-dimensional vocalist), and very well produced thrash metal with groove metal and melodic elements. When that is said, the tracks seldom reach excellence and at times I feel like I´m listening to a pale copy of The Haunted when they were in their prime. A bit harsh maybe and a description like that shouldn´t scare away those interested in aggressive thrash metal with groove metal and melodic elements. It´s still a quality release, but that special magic they conjured up during their peak years isn´t as strong anymore as it used to be. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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