One Kill Wonder

During the first years of the band's existence, the name The Haunted stood for high quality thrash. The approach of the quintet was neither old school nor overly modern and due to the enormous energy level of their most aggressive tunes, the guys became quickly a force to be reckon with. The ironically titled third album proves evidence that The Haunted were definitely no one hit wonder. The eleven tracks have a lot of exciting moments. Okay, I cannot deny that the dudes run slightly out of ideas at the end of the album ("Downward Spiral", "Bloodletting"), but the merciless title track on the final position of the song list is a good compensation for the less strong numbers. The band drops its ultimate bomb and "One Kill Wonder" (the song) leaves no stone unturned in view of its compact rudeness.

The rapid title track belongs to the highlights of a full-length which does not modify the well known style of the formation in a significant manner. Okay, "Everlasting" starts very fast-paced and ends almost relaxed, while the staccato riffing of "D.O.A." contributes a formerly not used approach. But these details do not define the music of The Haunted newly. Riffs from the archives of Hanneman (R.I.P.) still show up and the unfriendly voice of Marco Aro does not deliver formerly unknown facets. I like this kind of reliability or "positive stagnation", because the band finds always the right mixture of melody and brutality. It might be a stale stereotype to start the album with the fast and mean "Godpuppet", but come on, a good frontal assault is a good frontal assault, regardless of its position. And, by the way, the intro evokes a Wild West feeling - so this might be a small surprising detail for those of you who are interested in modifications.

Of course, the album boasts with its flawless production. Do not ask me why or how, but Swedish bands seem to be the kings, both in terms of technical and musical skills. "One Kill Wonder" exhibits a great portion of pressure and sharpness without asphyxiating the energetic drive of the songs. For example, the beginning of "Demon Eyes", an instrumental, offers rather airy tones. Speaking of this track, it relies on a decent mix of heavy riffs and comparatively excessive leads. Sometimes it is not easy to integrate such a slightly different number into the flow of an album, but The Haunted are experienced enough to master this challenge - and the following "Urban Predator" brings the band back on track in a matter of seconds. For people like me who just can't get enough of these highly effective, Slayer-inspired riffs while kneeling in front of their "Hell Awaits" altar, songs like "Urban Predator" or "Shithead" give the album that extra something, not least because the dudes from Northern Europe link this guitar work with catchy (yet harsh) sections.

All in all, this mix of aggression and hatred is on an equal footing with its precursors and I am happy that the German Metal Hammer magazine featured the album's bonus track of the Swedish edition. I am speaking of the dense "Creed" which opened an issue of the magazine's "Off Road Tracks". The number shows the typical approach of the formation. It cannot compete with their best songs, but it is also no scrap material. So try to get as much as you can from "One Kill Wonder", you will not regret it.

The first 4 albums that The Haunted put out were all special in their own way and each has a permanent home in my music collection. The band are to 21st century thrash metal what the opener 'Godpuppet' is to my spine - they absolutely smash it, in a good way. That said, One Kill Wonder is the sound of a band struggling to sound distinctive, even if in that struggle, they ended up producing their heaviest album.

The first thing that hits the listener about One Kill Wonder is the production. Those guitars sound like axes when they swing and chug and chainsaws when the band lets rip with fast riffs. Marco Aro sounds like he's going to be starring in a remake of The Exorcist. And then the rhythm section sounds either masterful or confused and messy, depending on the pace of the song. Don't get me wrong, the power on display here is an improvement on the previous 2 albums and it's very welcome to hear such destructive riffs played with a suitably heavy production, but the album also sounds overwhelming and chaotic, which means it's a little bit tricky to stomach unless you're in a fury yourself.

Let's be honest, the band were fucking pissed about something when they were writing these songs. For all the modern sound and electronics plus chug of the intro, this is the thrashiest album The Haunted have released, blazing past in wave after wave of frantic breaks, grinding tremolos and some more upbeat, bouncy numbers like the catchy 'Shadow World' and 'D.O.A.'. 'Demon Eyes' is a really lacklustre instrumental, but all of the other songs are quick and rage-filled, like Slayer on amphetamines with a boar on vocals. 'Everlasting' and 'Shithead' are the most thrillingly destructive, while 'Godpuppet' is an espresso of pure malevolence that is guaranteed to stain your pyjamas dark with shit.

As mentioned earlier, the drums are hidden by a thickened sound that masks bottom end at high intensity. As such, not a lot can be said about the rhythm section beyond the fact that it's pretty brutal and, to be fair to the band, that's probably the point. There's a greater presence when the drums settle back into a more loping, bouncing groove, but the thrashfests are on point as well, even if the bass is slightly too distorted. Jensen comes up with some great headbanging riffs on One Kill Wonder, though a few of the faster ones sound alike, which makes the groovier parts and the melodeath sections especially welcome, keeping the album interesting. The leads are good but not as memorable as on other albums, since Anders Björler has always sounded better in a more melodic style, which he isn't able to utilise so much with the violence going on around him. Marco Aro's vocals are not perfect and, to be honest, quite one-dimensional, though at least he's playing to his strengths on this album and going for full-on Hulk mode. "Marco smash!"

To sum up, One Kill Wonder isn't the perfect thrash album, nor is it The Haunted's best, but it makes up for what it lacks in finesse with its energy and anger. Thus, the perfect album to crash your car to.

The Haunted, a melodic death metal band, just never seems to get it right; so close, yet can never hit the mark. And their album, One Kill Wonder One is no exception to this statement.

The first thing I would like to discuss about this album is the guitars. The guitars are descent- nothing to shout about, but nothing to cry about either. I would definitely NOT call this thrashy, but I will admit that the guitars are slightly thrashier than most melodic bands I know of. The only real problem I have with the guitars is there is too much "chug-chug" riffs and too little memorable solos... or at least something different from "chugga-chugga-*rest*-*rest*-chugga-chugga (fine, that was a bit of an exaggeration- but you get the point). I mean, the riffs are catchy at some times, but without any memorable solos or anything, it becomes too repetitive and too difficult to tell each song apart from each other

Now onto the vocals: I will admit that the vocals are hardcore oriented, but it does fit the overall morbid theme of the album very nicely- making it a good decision on Marco's part. There is a great amount of feeling put into his vocals. There's no doubt that whatever the vocalist is singing about.... he's fucking pissed off about it. Marco really adds some depth and meaning into this otherwise bland album. So overall, while hardcore oriented, the vocals were a clever and effective choice- expressing true emotions and feelings of pure hatred, anger, and death.

Last and definitely least, we get to the worst part of the album: the drums. The drums are arguably the weakest part of the album. In simple terms, the drums were just bad and outright boring. Every song was the same thing for the drums; the only difference was how he started out each song… but then got back into the same generic melodic death metal drummer routine.

Regardless, I do believe that this is their most noble effort to really try and create a kick ass album... but unfortunately they fall a tad short. By no means is this a bad album- it’s just not great. In general, this album sort of resembles Swiss cheese: it would be a solid album if it didn't have all these little holes scattered around throughout it. In other words, this album just needs some TLC. Nevertheless, I believe that this is their best album The Haunted has released and it’s worth listening to.

**Favorite Songs: D.O.A., Everlasting, Urban Predator, Shithead**

Yep, that's three out of three Haunted albums that are completely worthless. This one actually mocks the listener slightly by starting out with some semblance of redeeming value, before it degenerates into hideous terribleness. The sound is mostly "Gothenburg" with some really generic vocals, some misplaced Swedish-sounding (Soilwork, and Arch Enemy at times) melodic parts, and the usual generic guitar work that marks this band. The last few songs are just about interchangeable, unfortunately. There really are no new ideas past song four or so... okay, there are no new ideas ANYWHERE, but I mean relative to the other songs on the album, not relative to Pantera and Hatebreed and In Flames.

After a kinda lengthy opening section, we get to "God Puppet", which actually has a nice solid thrash break in the middle - too bad the riffs are weak as fuck, but hey, this is about the first time that The Haunted can call something that they did "thrash". Really bad thrash, i.e. on the level of The Gathering or something, but a definite step up the awfulness of their self-titled album.

[note to other reviewer: I said it's BAD thrash. I make no claims about the quality, for there is no quality to be claimed!]

Then, the second song - far more melodic. Yep, as in Sucky Gothenburg Swedish Melodicism - the album definitely takes a nosedive at this point. There's also a decent riff at one point of the song, but then it is buried by the silly In Flames meets Soilwork style. The song really is far too repetitive, though - and it's hard to believe it's under 4 minutes long. It gets very old very fast. Then, Everlasting is more in the same vein, except with fewer riffs. Something that you could find on any run-of-the-mill Gothenburg band. Thrash, this album is not. Throw in a really silly interlude and a penchant for overusing curse words to sound "br00tal" and you get something pretty mediocre.

"D.O.A." - Pantera called, they want their mediocre groove riff back. "Demon Eyes" - this is where they really go down the boring path of Gothenburg-ness, with some slow "melodic" parts over which they throw in some really indecipherable whispering vocals. It sounds like that at any moment the song should explode into blazing speed metal, as it does kinda serve as the intro for that, except it keeps going and going and going as an intro piece...

The rest... "Urban Predator" recalls the first album with its core-sounding aggression bit, that stuff that people think is thrash but really is NOT THRASH, NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THRASH, and really, one should listen to far more Darkness Descends and far less of this shit, because everyone's perspective is getting far too distorted. "Downward Spiral" - didn't we just hear this one? This is where the album really runs out of ideas, as "Shithead" is more of the same. Oh, great song title too - really creative. What, was "people = shit" taken?

"Bloodletting" - hmm, perhaps if we use an Overkill album title, we can masquerade as being thrash? I suddenly foresee their next album being called "Darkness Descends", and containing THE SAME SONG OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Well, this one sounds more Pantera-esque, but again, we've heard it all before. And we don't care. (Identify THAT reference, win a prize...) The song is overlong, and goes nowhere for a few more minutes - it's not a good sign when a four minute song is called overlong.

Finally, the closer, the title track. This one is complete utter fucking ripping thrash metal, with a lot of riffs and ... oh wait, I put on a different album. I guess I didn't even notice that song stapled to the back of the previous one - must've sounded just the same too!

Yep, it's complete crap. Didn't see that one coming, huh???

3 years in the making, One Kill Wonder marks the return of modern thrash's undisputed kings... guitarist Anders Bjorler left the band, but luckily returned before recording commenced. And, although this is good stuff, and from any other band I would be impressed... I feel kind of let down. It seems they're resting on their laurels and following the same formula they used on Made Me Do It. None of the songs quite kick my ass like that main riff in Bury Your Dead...

Following a pretty useless instrumental intro, Godpuppet thrashes forward with the same intensity of the Haunted's self titled, an auspicious beginning if there ever was one. Shadow World sounds suspiciously like Trespass (Made Me Do It), something that pisses me off, since these guys can write insane riffs. Why do the same shit you've done in the past? Everlasting gives One Kill another kick in the arse, can't wait to hear this one live.

D.O.A. is pretty unique in that i thought it was a Hatebreed song at first... pretty well done, another one that should go over well live. The next song is fucking horrible, a 4 minute, boring as hell instrumental. What the hell kind of filler is that? If you don't have enough songs put out an EP or something, don't write sludge for the sake of sludge.

Now, I'm a pretty big Haunted fan, so I say this with love: try harder. One Kill Wonder seems half assed, particulary in the wake of MMDI. There are great riffs, but once again, I have a feeling I've heard this before. Good album by normal standards, a letdown by the Haunted's. =(