The Haunted Made Me Do It
From the great grooves of the Gothenburg, Sweden, death-metal scene that spawnedEntombed,Dismember, and the Haunted's immediate ancestor,At the Gates, comes another successful wedding of ominousSlayer-inspired metal with hard-hitting traditional rock. The accessibility of the onslaught bringsMotörheadto mind, though the Haunted's sound is cleaner. In the Swedish style, even when the vocals are total gross-outs and the drums smack mercilessly, the guitars construct catchy melodic patterns like something fromJudas Priest. With so much going on stylistically, the Haunted don't take metal to the next level; rather, they mark a new beginning in the vital, prolific Swedish scene.--Ian Christe