Band:	The Haunted
Album:	Revolver
Style:	Melodic death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	October 18, 2004
A review by:	Deadsoulman

01. No Compromise
02. 99
03. Abysmal
04. Sabotage
05. All Against All
06. Sweet Relief
07. Burnt To A Shell
08. Who Will Decide [feat. Lou Koller]
09. Nothing Right
10. Liquid Burns
11. My Shadow

As you all can hear, the return of Peter Dolving as the chief microphone tormentor for The Haunted is not ineffective? He screams like a hardcore singer, and the rest of the band trails on this path. Yes people, The Haunted are, on this new album, sometimes almost hardcore. Don't worry, they are still firmly rooted in their good old thrash foundations, but this basis becomes more and more violent with time. It's not just the fact that Dolving sounds on the edge of breaking his vocal chords, even if it has an influence on the final result. Actually, the production itself makes this album sound hardcore, almost underground: the sound is raw, dirty and without compromise. Even the calm passages with clean vocals are violent in a sense. They attack your mental sanity with disturbing and unwholesome melodies? I feel extremely uneasy when I listen to 'Abysmal' and above all the desperate 'My Shadow', a closing track that makes you think about the virtues of putting an end to this wretched and useless existence.

Revolver oozes desperation, hatred, uneasiness, some feelings we've not been used to encountering with our Swedish thrashers. Songs like 'All Against All', 'Burnt To A Shell' and 'Sweet Relief' have some almost stoner tunes to them that develop a deeper feeling of sadness. Even if their previous albums were not really 'happy', there was not this overdose of disenchantment. I can imagine some fans ranting around about the non-trueness of bands who change their directing line. Well, let me appease your fears: The Haunted has not changed thoroughly: there are still some thrash anthems that remind of One Kill Wonder, for example the two opening tracks 'No Compromise' and '99', and the mind-blaster 'All Against All'. On the other hand, if you hate everything that has '-core' in it, don't even bother listening to 'Who Will Decide' and 'Smut King' (only if you got the limited edition). The first one has a thrash basis but the method of singing and the combined vocals of Dolving and Lou Koller of Sick Of It All make it sound as hardcore as it can be. The second one is a hardcore song, and the only weak song of Revolver in my opinion (but it's only a bonus track, so no harm done).

Again I would like to come back on the performance of Peter Dolving: this guy screams as if his life depended on it, he also has a really cool clean voice, and I dare say he adds a lot to the quality of this album (his greatest performances are 'My Shadow', 'All Against All' and 'Abysmal'). Of course some will regret Marco Aro, some will criticize the new thrashcore sounding, but seriously, try to find a flaw here? I bet you can't. Revolver is the sequel to their first album, and in addition it's powerful, furious, thundering, brutal, aggressive. It's also another really great album for this year, the milestone of a group of honest guys who have no commercial plan, are not afraid to take risks and do whatever they like. I can't decide if it is better than One Kill Wonder, but anyway it's not a disappointment. The Haunted are angry and catchy, and I wouldn't like them any other way.

Highlights: No Compromise, 99, Abysmal, All Against All, Who Will Decide, My Shadow. You got the idea, every single one is great!!