The Haunted are back for another round, as strong as ever

Swedish extreme metal-ers The Haunted are back with their 9th studio album Strength in Numbers in a run that has spanned the last two decades. The band wastes no time in creating a rich sonic landscape from the get-go. The album begins with a short and sweet instrumental track “Fill The Darkness With Black” that starts with a clean acoustic feel and ramps up into a full onslaught at the end of the minute and a half run time leading into “Brute Force” just in time for all hell to break loose. The track features an abundance of double bass blast beats accompanied by frantic tremolo picking on the guitars and topped off with Marco Aro’s formidable vocal style all of which combine to produce the perfect recipe for head-bang inducing, unadulterated extreme metal.

The album almost seems to have a heartbeat, a rhythm to which the listener cannot help but move to throughout many other tracks such as “Preachers Of Death,” which takes an incredibly melodic approach with many tempo changes throughout that create a dramatic element to the song as well. From the palm muted sections at the beginning and throughout a reverb saturated clean passage just before the 4 minute mark, the song does an exemplary job of keeping the listener engaged with the title track having a very similar feel. Further along in the record, “Tighten The Noose” had much of the same ability to captivate but was more consistent in speed and substance throughout for a complete all-out track that doesn’t relent until the end.

To sum it up plainly, the album as a whole is captivating and incredibly fitting for playing at high volumes. There is drama throughout all the peaks and valleys throughout the release, and plenty of high quality material to leave a lasting impression upon any individuals that should find themselves withing earshot of the carnage that is Strength in Numbers.