Review THE HAUNTED “Songs of Last Resort”

The Haunted are one of the veteran bands from Gothenburg that have contributed to a special sound coming out of Sweden’s second largest city. Their sound incorporates the melodic death metal vibe of the early mid-90s, but The Haunted always had a solid portion of thrash metal integrated into their music.

From their furious 1998 debut album to their latest release “Songs of Last Resort”, The Haunted have always delivered quality. Although it took the guys eight years to finish work on their tenth album, it was worth the wait. “Songs of Last Resort” is the expected blast from the north and “Warhead”, the opener and lead single, sets the stage for what to expect from the Swedish metal pioneers. Jonas Björler, Adrian Erlandsson, Patrik Jensen, Marco Aro and Ola Englund deliver an album that shows a hungry band. The Haunted in 2025 are fully committed to brutal thrash metal and “Warhead” is just the beginning of a 40-minute metal blast. Each song reflects a band that wanted to unleash this album, and they wanted it to sound powerful and wild.

What supported this blistering result might be the way of working. There wasn’t too much sketching out the general outlines of what the direction was going to be. Instead, “Songs of Last Resort” results from a more intuitive and impulsive momentum that adds to the dynamics of tracks like the raging “Death to the Crown”. The Haunted haven’t experimented much on their latest release and songs such as “Hell is Wasted on the Dead” are a statement for this approach. Brutal and precise, the song is very reminiscent of their earlier releases.

Jensen and Englund hit the strings hard, resulting in massive riffs such as the pulverizing one of “Collateral Carnage.”” It’s a slower paced and roaring thrash metal blast before “Blood Clots” is introduced by some mellow tones that quickly turn into another thrash metal assault on your ears. At one and a half minutes, the track is more of an interlude leading up to “Salvation Recalled”. The Haunted don’t change their approach, so we can expect another metal smasher with some well-forged hooks. Although “Songs of Last Resort” is an aggressive metal release, the five-piece adds enough twists and breaks to these twelve headbangers, like in the brutal “Labyrinth of Lies”. Aro’s barking vocals and the combination with a melodic approach create a field of tension that is exciting to listen to.

“Letters of the Last Resort” is the song that closes the album and is a kind of title track. Inspired by the story of letters sent by the British Prime Minister to four submarine commanders containing instructions for the scenario of the destruction of the British government in a nuclear war, the new longplayer is an anti-war statement. It begins with the aforementioned “Warhead” and the theme runs through all the songs – from the opener to the eerie outro of the album’s final track.

Eight years after the release of “Strength in Numbers”, The Haunted return with one of their strongest and most electrifying releases. “Songs of Last Resort” is a statement for thrash metal that the guys execute to perfection. This album is already one of the highlights of 2025.