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Swedish metal titans THE HAUNTED have been blazing a trail since their arrival on the scene in the 90s, enticing fans far and wide with their thrash-infused anthems. 2014’s Exit Wounds album saw a shift in personnel, with the recruitment of frontman Marco Aro and guitarist/popular YouTuber Ola Englund as well as the triumphant return of iconic drummer Adrian Erlandsson.
Following on from 2017’s Strength in Numbers release things seemed to go particularly quiet for THE HAUNTED. Unbeknownst to us, their next instalment Songs Of Last Resort was well underway. “I’ve been doing many interviews in the run-up to release but I only just realised yesterday when I went to do something with the songs on my computer and that the folder said ‘2020’!” Explains founding guitarist Patrik Jensen. “We released Strength In Numbers and we never really stopped. People may have thought we may have taken a break or something but I’ve worked on two WITCHERY albums, AT THE GATES have been releasing and working on new material so we’ve been very busy. I thought our last few albums before the changes in lineup felt a bit stiff. If you want to play aggressive music it is important to play it in more of a live setting than just sitting in front of a computer just playing to a click. You can feed off the emotion and the music is created more organically. I had plans for Adrian coming over but COVID happened and no one could travel. In 2021, I booked some studio time, he flew over and caught a stomach bug so he spent three days on my couch and not a single note was played. It felt like the gods were against us at that point.”
The first glimpse of what to expect was in the form of initial single and album opener Warhead. It was evident to see that despite the perceived dormancy THE HAUNTED were back and better than ever. “We were kind of curious as to whether people still remember us after all this time,” admits Jensen. “I’ve been reading the comments on the videos for our singles and people seem to be very keen on the new songs. When it finally gets released and we get to go out there and play the songs that will be a happy day. This might be our third generation of metal fans that are discovering us which makes choosing a setlist for a live show quite difficult. People may want to hear the old stuff from our first album but what about the fans that discovered us halfway through our career? They may want to hear the songs they grew up with. It’s cool but adds an additional complexity.”
Sometimes a band can stumble across an image, text, or other forms of media and it becomes quickly obvious that it would make for a perfect theme for an album. This is exactly what happened to Jensen and THE HAUNTED. “I found this Wikipedia page about the Letters Of Last Resort which the UK Prime Minister sends to all the commanders of the nuclear submarines in case a catastrophic event occurs. The options were along the lines of ‘Retaliate’, ‘Do Nothing’, ‘Join forces with Australia’, ‘Go to the United States, if it is still there’ and that really struck a chord with me. It is entirely possible that something like that could happen, especially with the ongoing wars around Europe. We’ve been away for a long time and we really wanted to have lyrics which meant something. We wanted to send out a strong anti-war statement.”
He continues, “the first track, Warhead, it’s about the politicians and world leaders who have a ‘war head’ on their shoulders who are only interested in profiting and gaining from conflict. I usually get most of my inspiration during everyday mundane things doing the dishes or walking the dog, parts of my routine that I cannot escape. I prefer not to listen to music as it forces me to be creative instead of being passive and influenced by someone else. My brain has no other option but to entertain itself.”
As with any kind of creative medium, music can, at times, be an unforgiving process. Not every idea is a good idea and it may take running into a few brick walls before you get to where you need to be. Thankfully for Jensen, he had a secret weapon at his disposal. “I started working on guitar plugins for recording in a computer setting and led the team on deciding what it should sound like, mics, cabs etc. In March last year we released a high-gain amplifier plugin, the ENGL Savage and it gave me the same feeling as if I was stood back in the rehearsal space. I was starting to get the feeling that maybe I was getting old and the riffs were drying up but as soon as I started using this I realised it was the tools that were holding me back. I wrote 11 songs for this album in a few months. From that point, the stars began to align. The artwork, the recording, and everything started falling into place.”
Marco Aro has proven that he is a powerhouse in his own right, silencing all doubters after the departure of long-standing frontman Peter Dolving. The recording process for Songs Of Last Resort witnessed him join forces with another revered vocalist, the legendary Björn Strid of SOILWORK.
“The guy that Marco used to work on his vocals with moved to a different city so we were discussing him flying over to Ola and recording in his studio as he has everything we would need but having a guitar player sat there with arms folded telling him he could do that part better would be of no benefit to him,” discusses Jensen. “He needed to be with someone who would understand the use of his body as an instrument. Björn is a good friend of everyone in the band and him and Marco have a lot of mutual respect. He wasn’t too sure at first as he felt it may be quite intimidating, like me trying to record guitars with James Hetfield! Once they got started Marco was raving about how well it was going. I think Björn challenged him, spoke to him in his language and got the best out of him. Adrian recorded the drums with Oscar Nilsson at Studio Bohus in Gothenburg and with him being a drummer himself he could speak to Adrian in a similar fashion and get the best performances out of him. Ola worked his magic in his studio, writing some of the best solo’s he’s ever written for us and then Jens Bogren mixed the album and made it sound absolutely amazing. Everything just lined up perfectly for us after the initial tribulations.”
Jensen has been on the scene for multiple decades and is showing no signs of fatigue or loss of drive. When asked what he attributed this to he quickly responded with “I have a very strong inner 16 year old and will never stop being fascinated by the sound of a guitar. Maybe some people are in a band for a while and then they move on and go buy a fishing boat. Music is my thing. As long as I have people around me who want to play and we’re still able to play. Thrash can be quite demanding, it would be easier if we were a stoner band! I know I probably sound like a bit of a dinosaur but any band should sound better live than they do on album. An album to me is just there because the band can’t play in your living room, which would be so much better!”
Songs Of Last Resort is out now via Century Media Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS122 here:
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