Band:	The Haunted
Album:	Unseen
Style:	Alternative metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	March 16, 2011
A review by:	Troy Killjoy

01. Never Better
02. No Ghost
03. Catch 22
04. Disappear
05. Motionless
06. Unseen
07. The Skull
08. Ocean Park
09. The City
10. Them
11. All Ends Well
12. Done
13. Attention [limited edition bonus]
14. The Reflection [live] [limited edition bonus]
15. The Fallout [live] [limited edition bonus]

These Swedes aren't unknown to most metal fans - hell, they've been around for about 15 years now. 15 years of relative stability in terms of their line-up too. Not only are they a stable veteran band, but they also helped further develop the whole melodeath/thrash movement. Not too shabby.

Now 15 years as a band should impress people. And in its own right, it is pretty impressive. But there's also an inherent problem that comes with writing music with pretty much the same people for a decade-and-a-half: stagnation. The Haunted ran out of gas. It happens to the best... er, well, it happens to everyone.

Now remove all thoughts of The Haunted's signature melodic death/thrash hybrid and think of what Tool would sound like if they weren't a prog band, or what Korn would sound like if they were a thrash band. That's pretty much what The Unseen is. It's a weird alternative form of some stripped down groove/thrash with some truly nauseating vocal work. Clean vocals. Almost exclusively. And "shouting". Kind of like what Derrick Green considers singing. Normally I'm not the kind of person to focus so much on vocals during a review because usually there's music to talk about, but that's not the case with this album. The vocals take center stage here because the music is just so simple.

This is the equivalent of modern day radio pop. You don't listen to Adele for her sweet guitar solos, you listen to see just how good a voice she has. Who even notices the piano? Okay, I'll admit I do, so that was a bad reference. But you get the point. Boring, slow, alternative, derivative, simple, wannabe catchy rock-style metal (did I miss anything?) that fails so miserably in the instrumental department your focus goes directly to the vocals, only to realize that that awful music is comparably a saving grace.

You're thinking "sellout", like Metallica's self-titled release, and there's definitely truth in that. This album reeks of marketability, something veering towards the oh-so-dreaded mainstream, everyone's worst nightmare: MTV. Because that's where all the simple, soulless, skeletal music goes that's written by musicians on the verge of an identity crisis, right?

Game over guys. Go drink some more and start a few bar brawls. Or is this what age does to all thrashers?