Ex-THE HAUNTED Frontman Says 'Drug Abuse' Was The Real Reason Behind His Departure

October 24, 2005

Two years after leaving Swedish thrash titans THE HAUNTED, current FACE DOWN vocalist Marco Aro has reaveled the real reason behind his departure.

"It was the only alternative for me," Aro told the Swedish magazine Close-Up. "I had some problems, or I should say that I had a really fucking hard time with drug abuse towards the end of [my stint with] THE HAUNTED.

"I've always dabbled with drugs, even before I joined THE HAUNTED, but towards the end it just escalated," Aro continued. "It all went downhill when I brought the tour life with me back home. I had another kid on the way and had to try to get myself out of that shit. I actually did one world tour with THE HAUNTED sober. It kind of felt like I was walking onto an ice hockey rink wearing soccer shoes. It wasn't easy, because everything was so much more fun when I was under the influence."

Marco Aro has since cleaned up, but admits he's "terrified of slipping again." The vocalist is now ready to return to the spotlight with the reunited FACE DOWN, the Swedish aggro metal band he fronted in the '90s. The comeback album, "The Will to Power", is scheduled for release on November 7 via Black Lodge Records.

"Since we play 'fight metal,' music that is excellent to fight to, I want to write as angry and hard lyrics as possible. There isn't a specific message in the lyrics, nor any introspective songs that deal with my inner demons. Well, this song would be the exception then," says Aro and points to the track "Heroin".

In the interview, Aro also sheds light on the "damage control" tactics that he felt that THE HAUNTED's former label Earache used.

"Some labels treat their bands like the members are 16 years old and live with their mom and dad," he believes. "I remember that Earache called up fanzines and wanted transcripts of my interviews so they could censor my negative statements about the label. If I said something that wasn’t to Earache's liking they would issue a denial — in my name — to various metal Internet sites [see previous BLABBERMOUTH.NET stories: Story#1, Story#2, Story#3]. Thankfully we [FACE DOWN] don’t have to deal with stuff like that anymore."

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