The Haunted finally return with what may be one of the best metal album of the year! Picking up where the band left off on the self-titled debut, The Haunted waste no time expanding upon the thrashfest that made the band an overnight sensation with fans and media.

Humorously titled, The Haunted Made Me Do It breaks new ground on three fronts: better vocals, varied drumming and diverse song structures. New vocalist Marco Aro (ex-Face Down) is a more suitable vocalist to the band’s elaborate thrash-meets-death-meets-hardcore approach – he’s even given the liberty to experiment with “clean” vocals on occasion. Aro displays his powerful vocals on the amazing At The Gates-inspired “Hollow Ground” and the rhythm intensive “Under the Surface.” Drummer Per Moller Jensen is also new to the Haunted fold. Filling ex-At The Gates drumgod Adrian Erlandson’s shoes should be difficult at best, but Jensen’s ability work a few poly-rhythms and even grind (“Revelation”) shows that he’s certainly the man to be behind Haunted’s already airtight rhythm section.

Even though the band’s debut album was visceral, it didn’t have the melodic edge of the new album. Guitarist Anders and bassist Jonas (both ex-At The Gates staffers) obviously contributed more to this album than before. Although, every song is centered on fast, thrash-based music, there’s a great attention to melodic details; At The Gates was renowned for its attention to melody. “As The World Burns” is a good example of this; there’s even a tribute of sorts to Metallica’s “Orion” halfway through the song. “Revelation” basically comes out of nowhere. It’s short, minute and a half song that shows that the Haunted aren’t afraid to lock it into overdrive and just jam. Basically, it’s barebones grindcore with a smattering of harmonic structure.

In reality, the Haunted has the capacity to be huge here, there’s just a lot of work ahead of them. The Haunted Made Me Do It is one album that is certainly be another step in the right direction. This is one album that’s not to be missed!

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