Music
[Album Review] The Haunted ‘Exit Wounds’
The past few albums from Swedish melodic metal band The Haunted have not exactly received the kindest reception. Personally, I was a fan of the more hard rock approach but I can’t deny that the band was truly a force to be reckoned with when they wrote blistering, vicious metal.
I came aboard The Haunted train with The Dead Eye, which featured ex-vocalist Peter Dolving. That album had a huge impact on me and is still an album that I play with frequency. Perhaps it is because of this beginning that I preferred and appreciated Dolving’s contributions and works.
However, I still appreciate an album that kicks so much ass that no amount of toilet paper will clean up its mess. And since I already have a history with The Haunted I knew that Exit Wounds would be an album that I absolutely had to check out.
And with today being the release date, let’s dive into my review so you know whether or not you should pick this album up.
“317” kicks off the album with an unholy choir welcoming the listener to something unholy before throwing in thick, distorted riffs, the guitars demonstrating the patented The Haunted harmonization they’re known for. As cheesy as it sounds, this demonic cacophony really is welcoming you into one hell of an album.
I found myself blown away by the explosive snares of “Kill The Lights”, the Silent Hill-esque opening of “Trend Killer”, which transformed into a bass driven mechanical beast, and “Time (Will Not Heal)”, which features some truly badass riffing that will incite fearsome mosh pits.
Cultivating 14 badass tracks into a 45 minute package is no small feat but the band pulled it off. Some tracks don’t have the same “oomph” as others but what makes this album fun is that it can, and should, be listened to in one sitting. Tracks can be singled out for various reasons but the package as a whole is deeply satisfying.
The Final Word: Exit Wounds is the album that discouraged fans of The Haunted have been waiting and yearning for. It’s fast, it’s heavy, and it’s more authentically vicious than most “metal” released these days.
AMC has announced that The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE, the standing-room-only performance celebrating AMC’s premiere of its newly-released The Vampire Lestat at New York City’s iconic Beacon Theatre last month, will debut on streaming.
The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE begins streaming on AMC+ on August 23.
Ahead of its streaming premiere, fans can preview the concert event, featuring original songs from series composer Daniel Hart and performed by Sam Reid, in Hall H at Comic Con International on July 24.
Our own Daniel Kurland attended the special event, highlighting how electric the Immortal Vampire is on stage: “It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.”
Based on Anne Rice‘s The Vampire Chronicles book series, The Vampire Lestat is the rock and roll-centric third season of AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire” created by showrunner Rolin Jones.
The Vampire Lestat goes on an electric multi-city tour while being haunted by “muses” from his wild and rebellious past. As his band’s popularity and star power rises, so does Lestat’s influence over vampires and humans alike, leaving others to contend with Lestat’s power in the face of the Great Conversion, an unnatural surge in the vampire population.
Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles and Jennifer Ehle star with Reid. Executive producers include Jones, Mark Johnson, Hannah Moscovitch, the late Anne Rice, and her son Christopher Rice.
The series finale airs this Sunday, July 19, on AMC and AMC+.
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