Patrik Jensen (The Haunted) reports that his campy retro-thrash sideproject Witchery is done with their third album. The band, which also features Sharlee D'Angelo from Mercyful Fate/King Diamond/etc., is currently unsigned and is on the lookout for a label to work with. Read more: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=32018

Aversionline reviews the latest album from The Haunted: http://www.aversionline.com/reviews/1963/

Swedish thrashers The Haunted on tour in the UK:

02/24 - Meanfiddler, London
02/25 - Academy, Birmingham
02/26 - Cockpit, Leeds
02/27 - Cathouse, Glasgow
02/28 - Hop & Grape, Manchester
03/01 - Wedgwood, Portsmouth
03/02 - Charlotte, Leicester
03/03 - Rock city, Nottingham
03/04 - Corporation, Sheffield
03/05 - Zodiac, Oxford
03/06 - Lemon groove, Exeter
03/07 - Junction, Cambridge

The nominees for the Swedish radio P3 Gold awards have been announced:

Best female artist:
Ayesha - Jade Fever
Anna Ternheim - Somebody Outside
Stina Nordenstam - The World Is Saved
Marit Bergman - Baby Dry Your Eye
Lena Philipsson - Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan

Best male artists:
Promoe - The Long Distance Runner
Christian Walz - Paint By Numbers
Lars Winnerbäck - Vatten under broarna
Alf - Augustibrev
Jens Lekman - When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog

Best group:
Teddybears STHLM - Fresh
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Origin Vol 1
The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
Silverbullit - Arclight
Sahara Hotnights - Kiss & Tell

Best newcomer:
Raymond & Maria
Tough Alliance
Fibes, Oh Fibes!
Anna Ternheim
Jens Lekman

Best song:
Call on me - Eric Prydz
Mr Cool - Snook
Det gör ont - Lena Philipsson
Hey Boy - Teddybears STHLM feat. Swing Fly
Ingen vill veta var du köpt din tröja - Raymond & Maria

Guldmicken (best live):
Marit Bergman
Svenska Akademien
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
Infinite Mass
In Flames

Best rock/metal:
Nasum - Shift
The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
In Flames - Soundtrack To Your Escape
The Haunted - rEVOLVEr
Cult of Luna - Salvation

Best hip-hop/soul:
Embee - Tellings From Solitaria
Ison & Fille - Ison & Fille
Promoe - The Long Distance Runner
Natalie Gardiner - Natalie Gardiner
Ayesha - Jade Fever

Best dance:
Hird - Moving On
Cari Lekebusch - The Architect
Andreas Tilliander - World Industries
Eric Prydz - Samlad produktion 2004
Stonebridge - Can't Get Enough

Best pop:
Mattias Alkberg BD - Tunaskolan
Stina Nordenstam - The World Is Saved
Testbild! - The Inexplicable Feeling Of September
Hans Appelqvist - Bremort
Jens Lekman - When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog

Vote here: http://www.sr.se/p3/p3guld/

Arch Enemy has revealed that the upcoming Metal Hammer UK show at the London Forum on December 17 with The Haunted, Dark Tranquility and Nightrage will be filmed for a DVD release.

This year's "Close-Up made us do it!" tour will consist of The Haunted, Totalt Jävla Mörker and Insision. Dates:

01/26 - Grand, Uppsala (SWE)
01/27 - Club Monster, Gävle (SWE)
01/28 - Pinkerton, Skellefteå (SWE)
01/29 - Pipeline, Sundsvall (SWE)
01/31 - Nosturi, Helsinki (FIN)
02/02 - Klubben, Stockholm (SWE)
02/03 - Platens Bar, Linköping (SWE)
02/04 - Klubb Kaliber, Mariestad (SWE)
02/05 - Diezel, Halmstad (SWE)
02/06 - Prisma, Västerås (SWE)
02/08 - Garage, Oslo (NOR)
02/09 - Trägårn, Göteborg (SWE)
02/10 - KB, Malmö (SWE)
02/11 - Kino, Karlskrona (SWE)
02/12 - Pumpehuset, Copenhagen (DK)
02/13 - Voxhall, Århus (DK)

Simon Thibaudeau graces us with his in-depth look at The Haunted's latest album "Revolver": http://www.itsatrap.com/index.php?article=25
More reviews coming later this week.

The Haunted
Revolver
Century Media

A few years ago, while I was fully immersed in metal, The Haunted became one of my favourite bands. Their first album took the art of the no-frills trash record to new heights; to me that record was better than Slayer's "Reign in Blood" or "Season in the Abyss", Metallica's "Master of Puppets" or Megadeth's "Peace Sells". It was a revelation and it carried afterwards a slew of other good (Darkane, Defleshed, The Crown) and not so good (Carnal Forge, Gandalf) bands that were brought to prominence at the end of the nineties. While The Haunted continued their road on the thrash map, in the process changing vocalist from Peter Dolving to Marco Aro, I lost a bit of interest. Aro's delivery, while aggressive, was run-of-the-mill death vocals that did absolutely nothing for me. The additional consequence was that the bands felt the need to go as aggressive as possible with Aro and were losing the subtle things that made them good in the first place.

Two records later: Dolving is back and so is the band. First of all, this supposed evolution of the band is not that big of a deal. What they did is finally picked some melodic elements in the old At the Gates' bag of tricks, which was left unopened since the demise of the band and the formation of this one. We are talking about a majority of the songs here being extremely up tempo and a few numbers being mid-paced. The return of Dolving permits the band to use his vast array of talents in different situations and vary the attack with a lot more ease than it would have been possible with Aro. Here is how it goes song per song:

"No Compromise" starts the record as if recorded in a shoe box with strange rhythm pattern before going all out in the traditional Slayer-at-their-best thrash number that starts off the record not only with a bang but also reintroduced shouted backing vocals to the foray, something that was never part of their arsenal with Aro. The slower mid-section is so chest-pumping heavy it is amazing.

"99" is a bit of lower bpm affair that brings memories of "The Red in the Sky is Ours", with a bit a more modern melodic Gothenburg style but not without your scarifying on the violence.

"Abysmal" starts with clean guitars and Dolving doing what makes him a better fit for this band: the ability to actually sing (although he does very little of that on the record), and it is a nice change of pace. Once again this one lowers the bpm a little more and shows the band in all their mid-paced glory. This song sounds a bit like what Entombed sound like since the Death 'n Roll conversion.

"Sabotage" is one of those songs that is meant to blow your head clean off and does not quite succeed even though the song is pretty good. The breakdown at the end of the song particularly good the chorus just doen't do it.

"All Against All" is more of a mid-paced song that is probably the weakest on the entire album. I don't know why they felt the need to put it right in the middle of the album. It does have a nice lead and melodic guitar riff that accompanies it.

"Sweet Relief" is a throwback to the self-titled album: Fast and furious riffing but once again a very nice melodic lead and a breakdown changes things up mid song, much to my delight. This rocks.

"Burn to a Shell" once again displays Dolving's abilities, in the singing and screaming department. This could be considered The Haunted's ‘ballad' much like "Fade to Black" was but this one never stays in the ballad mode for long. Perhaps the strongest number on the album as it shows everything they are able to do, as well as combining them with a lot of ease.

"Who Will Decide" continues in the not-so-fast department but also shows just about every tempo change in a single song this band is able to do, and they do it well. Not the strongest song but certainly not the worst.

"Nothing Right". At this point if you did not enjoy the rest of the album, then you have no reason listening to this, but you would be missing out. The Haunted on this record throws at you everything but the kitchen sink and this song is a perfect example of subtle changes in riffs, stopping the guitars there and just changing things up mid-song. Just great stuff.

"Liquid Burns" continues the tradition of fast thrash and melodic enhancement this record brought to us.

"My Shadow" finishes the album, much like the self-titled one finished with a half spoken-word, half singing affair in depressing fashion. This is a good finishing song, although it is certainly not the band's strength.
- Simon Thibaudeau

PopMatters reviews The Haunted: http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/h/haunted-revolver.shtml

Patrik Jensen of The Haunted and Witchery talks to Rockdetector about the latter's new album, the origin of the fames 'Gothenburg sound' and more: http://www.rockdetector.com/artist,9090,interviews.sm#contenttop

Lots of Scandinavian stuff in the latest Aquarius Records list such as Circle, Darkthrone, a restock of Dungen, The Haunted and tons more: http://www.aquariusrecords.org/cat/newest.html

Here's this week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Origin I
02. Lars Winnerbäck - Vatten under broarna
03. Magnus Uggla - Den tatuerade generationen
04. Stina Nordenstam - The World is Saved
05. Anna Ternheim - Somebody Outside
06. The Refreshments - Easy to Pick Up, Hard to Put Down
07. Lena Philipsson - Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan
08. Björn Skifs - Skifs Hits!
09. Benny Anderssons Orkester - Bao!
10. Brolle Jr. - Paradise Will Wait
11. Mats Bergmans - Vänd dig inte omo
12. The Haunted - Revolver
13. Stefan Nilsson - Så som i himmelen
14. Lisa Ekdahl - Olyckssyster
15. Alcazar - Dancefloor - Deluxe
16. Europe - Start from the Dark
17. Christian Walz - Paint by Numbers
18. Anna-Lotta Larsson - Känn en doft av kärleken
19. Blacknuss - Gold
20. Rebecka Törnqvist - Travel Like in Songs

After a two month break, Jaga Jazzist is back in the studio to wrap up their new album for an early 2005 release. They've now enlisted the help of producer Kåre Chr. Westrheim to finish tracking and to handle mixing. Kåre has worked with quite a few high profile Norwegian musicians including Gluecifer, Kaisers Orchestra and Odd Nordstoga. Check out pics from the sessions here: http://www.jagajazzist.com/v2/sql/newslist.php/

Blistering.com interviews Patrik Jensen of The Haunted about their split with Earache Records, the new album "Revolver" and more: http://www.blistering.com/fastpage/fpengine.php/link/1/templateid/8020/tempidx/5/menuid/3

Check out some stills from the video shoot for "All against all" from The Haunted: http://www.cyklode.com/haunted/gfx/all_against_all_video/

Metal Hammer U.K. is sponsoring a special Swedish metal show at the London Forum on December 17 with Arch Enemy, The Haunted and Dark Tranquillity.