 
The Haunted for me have been an amazing aggressive
metal band with some phenomenal releases like
“Revolver” and 2008’s “Verses”;
both of these albums were a very unique brand
of hard metal. Previous releases to these from
1998 (when their debut album “The Haunted”
was released) weren’t quite as distinctive
and as distinguished as the most recent 2 but
were nevertheless heavy releases. This latest
offering from the band “Unseen” 3
years on from “Verses”, is a completely
different approach from anything they’ve
ever released; it’s taken a step back from
the aggressive metal edge and thrown in a more
alternative rock with elements of blues and light
metal slotted in.
I couldn’t believe it when I started listening
to it, I’ve been waiting 3 years to hear
another ear blistering metal album that got me
into the band all those years ago but it seems
that they aren’t going to be delivering
that type of album anymore. I hear combinations
of bands ranging from CKY, The Damned Things right
through to Pantera and Cancer Bats. Not to say
this mixture is a bad sound because its quite
good but that’s not why I listen to and
am a The Haunted fan.
Not the entire album is soft and groovy there
are some heavy tracks; “Motionless”,
“The Skull” and “The City”.
Those particular songs along with the most old
school The Haunted style track on the album “Them”
are the heaviest material this release has to
offer but they all have the new style incorperated
somewhere in them; its nowhere near as heavy as
the older tracks but are still pretty beast metal
tracks.
Some of the songs have a blues rock influence
with them vocal and melody wise if that infusion
of light bluesy metal sounds good to you good
tracks for that are “No Ghost”, “Catch
22” and “All Ends Well” and
I can’t really say anything bad about them
they are quite brilliantly crafted and sewn together
but when I see the name The Haunted written as
the artist it does put me off a bit. The song
“Never Better” sits perfectly between
both sets of songs mentioned, heavy through the
verses and a strange melodic eerie chorus, not
bad for the first track of the album.
This is the album they set out to make, they wanted
to do something really different to stray away
from becoming a generic metal band; they wanted
some distinction in the genre. I must say it’s
definitely a groovy metal album just like they
intended and yes you can still tell it’s
The Haunted mostly in the vocals but also in the
heavier sections. I don’t see why they needed
to change their style because in my opinion their
sound was perfect just the way it was.
For the next release I hope that they don’t
completely scrap this new sound but also maybe
add some heavier songs to go along side this style
just to not lose sight of who they have been since
1998; If they can find the perfect balance then
the next album is set to be a one of their best
but as it stands I feel a little dissatisfied
after even a few full listens to this album.
3/5
Review by James Webb
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