The Haunted @ The HiFi,Melbourne (12/11/ 2008)

Sun 16th Nov, 2008 in Gig Reviews

When I first heard The Haunted, I was absolutely mesmerised by a track called In Vein. The year was 1998 and I didn’t know it at the time, but I was hearing Swedish thrash metal at its best. With a line up including former members of Gothenburg metal royalty At the Gates there wasn’t much they could do wrong. 10 years on and 6 studio albums later, The Haunted are now arguably one of the heavyweights of Swedish thrash.

Suprisingly there was a relatively small crowd at The Hi Fi at the start of the show (the top room was closed off). Although by the time the headliners came on, the venue had filled out significantly. Adelaide metallers Double Dragon provided solid backup and have built up a handy resume of support slots for some of the biggest international names in metal.

When The Haunted came onstage, the room started heaving with applause and what space there was in the pit was quickly filled by eager punters. Aside from a brief P.A lapse in one of the tracks, the sound quality of the live show was of the highest standard. The show seemed to be completed in two halves; the first being predominantly associated with their newer more radio friendly material including the new album Versus, and the second being a more raw outlet of the brutal aggression of their first few studio albums.

The current line up of Peter Dolving (Vocals), Patrik Jensen (Guitar), Anders Björler (Guitar), Jonas Björler (Bass) and Per Möller Jensen (Drums) clearly have a great rapport with each other and this was instantly transferred to the crowd. There’s something about knowing you are about to witness a great thrash metal band ply their trade live that is quite unique. The performance was full of energy and material from each of the studio albums had been covered by the end of the night.

The stand out tracks were Trespass, The Moronic Colossus and of course In Vein. The encore included the first two tracks off rEVOLVEr; No Compromise and 99 and by this stage, they really seemed to have hit the pinnacle of their live show. They finished off with the mighty Hate Song, the first track off their first album and a song that pretty much defined their early sound.

Overall this was a great show and testament to the ongoing thrash metal prowess of one of the best-known bands in Sweden’s well established metal scene.