Band:	The Haunted
Album:	The Haunted Made Me Do It
Style:	Melodic death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	October 27, 2000
Guest review by:	Passenger

01. Dark Intentions
02. Bury Your Dead
03. Trespass
04. Leech
05. Hollow Ground
06. Revelation
07. The World Burns
08. Human Debris
09. Silencer
10. Under The Surface
11. Victim Iced

Following a debut of questionable quality, The Haunted is back with a new line-up and album. And a fine return this is. This reminded me of whom the Björler brothers are, which the self-titled somehow made me forget. "The Haunted Made Me Do It" sounds like they went back to analyse what they had done in At The Gates' last album and added a more Thrash edge to it, but played the way the previous release proved it should be done - with actual Metal riffs (that are really powerful here), proper songwritting, and a good harsh growler, being that newcomer Marco Aro serves this band's purposes much better than Peter Dolving.

This album does not only sound more interesting and captivating, it also sounds more extreme and melodic at the same time. It's not about making a few inconsequent loud tunes; it's also about being catchy, surprise with fluid breakdowns, challenge the listener with smart riffs and solos. An opener like "Dark Intensions/Bury Your Dead" is immediately a guarantee for some quality and dynamic Thrash, with a basic guiding line that could well have been planned by Slayer in their most recent outputs. But it wasn't, and The Haunted end up giving it another facet by incorporating Gothenburg influences, which serves to give the music a more modern or fresh touch without compromising its heaviness.

Ultimately "The Haunted Made Me Do It" is much more effective than its predecessor, and that might happen because the original band members seem to have overcome the At The Gates stigma, and just created what they wanted. The album came out solid and relentless. I ended up buying a proper copy, because, on top of the great music, I also really like The Haunted's murder related themes, they kind of have their own imagery too, and the cover for this album is quite intimidating once you realize who is in those photos. All in all, a well crafted release.

Best tracks: Bury Your Dead, Hollow Ground, The World Burns, Under The Surface