Record Exchange Boise

Reviews:

"Peter Dolving couldn't have picked a better time to rejoin the Haunted. The Gothenburgers' 1998 debut was a blueprint for an awful lot of what's gone down in extreme metal these past few years, including Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Lamb of God. Dolving's hypermanic presence and sheer rebel yell provided the dead-centre focus for that stone classic, adding a hardcore edge to the thrash witchery flowing from Patrik Jensen and Anders Bj"orler's fretboards. Here he is again. Throughout, the collectively penned lyrics are roared out with a bluntness and way with words that belies the fact that these are five Swedes. "Shut your f***ing mouth/ You don't know a single thing about me," Dolving orders on "All Against All." Three times on rEVOLVEr, the pace slows enough to let the singer drop to a despairing croon. "Abysmal" is a sinister ballad of obsession, "Burnt to a Shell" a chain gang blues number that builds to a throat-ripper of Anselmoriffic proportions and then smolders back down, while "My Shadow" comes over like Ozzy harmonizing with Nick Cave to the tune of Slayer's "Spill the Blood." On "Who Will Decide" Dolving duets with Lou Koller from Sick of It All to prove, if proof were needed, that pair would handily win any face-off with any bunch of young upstarts you care to name. But best of all is "Nothing Right," kickstarted by a trademark Bj"orler steamroller riff before Dolving is let out of the traps in full holler, after which the whole band crunches down on the outro. Not many bands around make playing thrash sound as deceptively simple as twelve-bar blues. Can you say, return to form?"