The Haunted - Songs of Last Resort ★★★★☆

MELODIC DEATH METAL / THRASH METAL | MAY 2025 

FOR FANS OF: THE CROWN, SOILWORK, MACHINE HEAD

        THRASH-O-METER        

★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ SONGWRITING

★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ LONGEVITY

★★★★★★★☆☆☆ THEMES

★★★★★★★★★☆ PRODUCTION

★★★★★★★★☆☆ MUSICIANSHIP

★★★★★★★☆☆☆ CHARACTER

★★★★★★★★☆☆ THRASHABILITY

                SCORE:                   

★★★★☆ BADASS SH!T

Built around the premise of war and devastation, Songs of Last Resort chimes unfortunately topical and worrisome when you look at whats going on right now in this world of ours. The opening track, 'Warhead', erupts with force, painting a grim portrait of a world bent toward ruin. The whole opening stretch of the album is sonically pulverising, thematically urgent, and... rather numbing.

It’s not until 'To Bleed Out' that you finally sense a purpose beyond thrashin’ everything to sh!t. 'Unbound' picks it up and runs in speed with a welcome character. The album finds its peak later on in 'Labyrinth of Lies', where a deliciously venomous, tumbling guitar line plays with the theme of a society built on control, manipulation, and layered deceit. The slower tempo of the song invites a moment of reflection and you realise that the whole album has flown by in a haze.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

The Haunted band photo by Linda Florin

I seriously respect a concept album that sets out to take the listener on a trip. But here’s the rub: despite the weight of the message, there’s not much of a journey to speak of and the story unfolds rather crudely.

Sure, complexity for its own sake is pure cringe, and while the blunt-force approach might hit hard in the moment, there's literally absolutely nothing to unpack here. It is what it is. It feels like you’re skimming the table of contents of a book without ever being let into the chapters

Historically inspired sh!t is often the most interesting out there because there tends to be lots of credibility to the story, not to mention interpretation due to viewpoints. Here we're about a prime minister, giving final orders to their submarine captains about what to do when the people, cities and the country really, have been destroyed with a nuclear attack. That's some heavy sh!t alright.

I mean sure, these old dogs can still certainly maim and crush. Sh!t is absolutely fierce and sounds fracking great while at it. The album is put together by Jens Bogren (of Opeth and Arch Enemy fame) and you can play this one really, really loud and nothing breaks. Marco Aro's vocals tear with convincing anger and you can appreciate the shreddage as the undeniable Death Metal tendencies jump through melodic hoops and settle into Thrash Metal territory.

Not for tourists

Simply put: far too many (of the too many) tracks are cut from the same cloth. There's not a sense of progress not to mention balance, as some instrumental bit feel just plain bizarre. This one doesn't really build towards the end so much as it just plain happens. It reminds me of the final scene in one of my all time favourite movies: Monty Python and the Holy Grail - if you know, you know.

Eight years in the making this album isn’t built for casual spins. It’s dense, deliberate, and packed with underlying shifts that reveal themselves to the patient - or the obsessed.

Badass sh!t.