Versus (2CD Box Set)

This album is amazing it is purely the haunted at their best. I just hope that they dont do what most bands do and dissapoint us in a slight change in style and keep hitting hard with the best music i could wish to bless my ears with hearing.

Ever since vocalist Peter Dolving returned, The Haunted have been on fine form indeed. The band have strayed away from the thrash sound and have gone for what i would consider a more "musical" approach to writing. Now dont get me wrong, im all for thrash. But this is nothing but a perfect direction for them.
From the opening track, you sense that the album has retained the darker feel that "The Dead Eye" gave us. Infact "vurses" is almost a sequel to that album.
Crunching dark riffs that pound you into oblivion, mixed with perfectly executed melody, and vocals that really really do tell a story. This is The Haunted on fine form.

I am a fan of all the bands previous releases, even The Dead Eye which split opinion amongst the fan base.
Things start well, Moronic Colossus is a chest beating monster of a track but it's all about inconsistency from there on. At times some of the arrangements just disintegrate right in front of your ears and your left wondering how it started and where it's going. Mr Dolving's lyrics are as interesting as usual but in too many songs here he seems to settle for just ranting over his band mates riffs with little or no thought about how it's going to sound as a whole. There are other high points but not whole songs, just glimpses of the this band are capable of.
The second disc has at least two tracks which should be on the album and for the life of me I can't understand why they're not on there.
The album title is ironic, they've got "versus", we just need some choruses and arrangements to go along with them.