THE HAUNTED

As much as heavy metal loves a band that sticks around, longevity comes with one major disadvantage: people love change, people hate change, and people are never fucking happy. Even the most successful bands are routinely torn between staying the same and hurtling down a creative dead end or trying something different and potentially alienating their entire fan base.

As a thrash metal band with melo-death tendencies, THE HAUNTED have had their fair share of polarizing moments. The Swedes' first three albums stuck to the script and blew everyone away with their precision and power. Thereafter, they took a series of major risks with albums like darkly melodic concept piece "The Dead Eye" and the willfully eclectic "Unseen", both of which split opinion down the middle. Since 2014's "Exit Wounds", and the return of vocalist Marco Aro, there has been no such confusion about the kind of band that THE HAUNTED are. Without making a wholesale return to the brutal thrash sound that had such impact in the late '90s, they have reclaimed their old territory and given it a ruthless upgrade.

On 2017's "Strength in Numbers", THE HAUNTED edged close to their blistering best, with material that was a natural, set-list fit for old classics like "Hate Song" and "Bury Your Dead", and underlying sense of momentum that now seems slightly ironic, given the subsequent seven-year wait for a follow-up. Fortunately, "Songs of Last Resort" is a pointedly fast and furious riposte to the notion that THE HAUNTED are slowing down in their old age. Darker and more thoughtful on a lyrical level than any previous record, their tenth studio album has been strategically designed to smash your fucking face in.

The first two songs are pure shots of adrenalin. "Warhead" delivers on its title's promise and dismantles the cruel cynicism of war with lethal thrash riffs and neck-veins bulging. "In Fire Reborn" repeats the trick, with haunting hooks and a pyromaniac's twinkle in Marco Aro's eye. "Death to the Crown" goes deeper, with moody, near-gothic keyboard textures and a hint of cinematic gloss, but the riffs are still as hard as nails. In contrast, "Unbound" is an uproarious act of thuggery, with punishing D-beats, a runaway train groove and an exquisite solo from lead guitarist Ola Englund. Four songs in and THE HAUNTED have not sounded this fired up and pissed off in a long time. "Hell is Wasted on the Dead" confirms it. An all-guns-blazing evil thrash battering, it is the filthiest, most hostile song the band have released in decades. "Through the Fire" comes a close second, with a steady succession of murderous riffs, razor-sharp tempo shifts and eerie, death metal atmospheres.

As stated in the accompanying bio, "Songs of Last Resort" was "inspired by the 'letters of last resort': handwritten letters from the Prime Minister of the UK, sent to the commanders of the four British ballistic missile submarines, and containing instructions for what to do in the event that the British government has been destroyed by a nuclear attack." It's a weighty subject for a heavyweight record, and death and dismay hang heavy throughout. THE HAUNTED were also great at dropping to a crushing, muscular mid-pace, and here "Collateral Carnage" fulfils the brief, melancholic melodies rising up from the bloody battlefield, presaging a merciless, juddering breakdown riff that is going to cause some serious damage to fans' neck muscles. Similarly, "Labyrinth Of Lies" is a slow-burning stealth attack, brimming with menace, and in elegant debt to traditional metal's in-built sense of drama. Only the closing "Letters of Last Resort" strays far from the Swedes' savagery, with its nightmarish voiceover and twisted sound design; but like everything else on this fabulous return to top form, the adventurousness is balanced out by riffs of a uniformly superb standard. After nearly 30 years of active service, THE HAUNTED are still delivering on the frontline.