It’s been a long time coming, but Swedish death-metal royalty the Haunted are about to set it off with their first album in close to a decade: Songs of Last Resort. As a warning shot, they’ve just fired off a pre-release ripper called “Warhead.”
The song and album mark the Haunted’s first new material since 2017’s Strength in Numbers. With “Warhead,” the band tap into that Gothenburg-style speediness, with nuclear thrash beats underscoring hard-swung metal chunkiness and a colossally waggled-out solo from lead guitarist Ola Englund.
“The main riff came to me at work, and I had to take the afternoon off that day to immediately get it recorded and worked on while the inspiration from this one riff was still creating goosebumps,” rhythm guitarist Jensen said in a statement, noting that the new song “stands a real chance of becoming a fixture of our live set for many years to come.”
Resident mic-checker Marco Ara added that“Warhead” is “an aggressive statement about the absolute horrors of the world we now have to live in,” and sure enough his political barkings reflect battlefields, carpet bombings, and the struggle of living through wartimes.
As for the album, Songs of Last Resort was chiefly recorded by Oscar Nilsson at Kungälv, Sweden’s Studio Bohus, though Ara’s vocals were tracked by Björn Strid at the Cellar Studio.
The 10-song release arrives in full May 30th via Century Media Records, though pre-orders are already up over here.
Songs of Last Resort tracklisting:
Warhead
In Fire Reborn
Death to the Crown
To Bleed Out
Unbound
Hell is Wasted on the Dead
Through the Fire
Collateral Carnage
Blood Clots
Salvation Recalled
Labyrinth of Lies
Letters of Last Resort