The Haunted

Emerging in the wake of the influential Swedish death metal act At the Gates from the mid-1990s and incorporating alumni from Witchery and Face Down, the Haunted navigated repeated personnel shifts throughout the latter half of the decade prior to unleashing The Haunted Made Me Do It in 2000, validating the anticipation that had built around them. Guitarist Anders Björler and bassist Jonas Björler departed At the Gates in 1996 and soon formed part of the Haunted’s initial roster alongside Jensen, formerly of Seance, and Adrian Erlandsson, previously of At the Gates. Nearly twelve months passed before they secured a suitable frontman, ultimately choosing Peter Dolving of Mary Beats Jane once Earache solicited contributions for the Earplugged 2 compilation. The quartet then tracked their self-titled debut, which earned widespread acclaim within metal circles.

Erlandsson and Dolving subsequently exited—the former joining Cradle of Filth—yet the remaining members swiftly recruited Per Moller Jensen on drums and Marco Aro on vocals. Reassembled, the group cut its second album, The Haunted Made Me Do It, which Earache promoted aggressively and which propelled the band further into prominence. Advancing beyond the first record, the release fused the melodic elements of At the Gates’ later work with heightened intensity, yielding a distinctive death-metal synthesis of melody and ferocity seldom achieved so fully. Anders Björler stepped away briefly before rejoining for 2004’s One Kill Wonder, the band’s final Earache outing.

Reuniting with Dolving in 2005, the Haunted moved to Century Media and delivered rEVOLVEr that same year, an album that extended their progressive trajectory and drew near-unanimous praise as their strongest effort to date. Dead Eye followed in 2006, after which the band joined Dark Tranquillity, Into Eternity, and Scar Symmetry on the North American leg of the Metal for the Masses tour. Following a prolonged hiatus, they recorded Versus for an autumn 2008 release. The 2009 compilation Warning Shots collected earlier material, while 2010 brought the live set Road Kill—captured during the previous year’s dates supporting Slayer and accompanied by a DVD documenting their stage intensity. New songs written during the break surfaced as the ambitious Unseen in March 2011, after which the group toured Europe. Exit Wounds appeared in 2014, introducing guitarist Ola Englund and welcoming back both Marco Aro and Adrian Erlandsson after more than a decade’s absence; the ensuing shows met with enthusiastic response from fans and critics alike.

For 2017’s Strength in Numbers the band enlisted producer Russ Russell, known for work with Napalm Death and Dimmu Borgir, in place of longtime collaborator Tue Madsen, and entered the studio with completed arrangements and pre-recorded elements for the first time. The album surfaced in August.