Review: The Haunted – Songs of the Last Resort (2025)

By Seth Metoyer, Metal Crawlspace -

Considering The Dead Eye by The Haunted is one of my all-time favorite metal albums, any new release from them has a mountain to climb. That record had a dark atmosphere, eerie depth, emotional essence, and songwriting that felt surgically precise. It was lightning in a bottle. So naturally, I went into Songs of the Last Resort with high hopes, even if I knew the odds were stacked.

Musically, the new album delivers a solid slab of metal. The guitar work is tight, the riffs punch with familiar aggression, and the tones feel like a return to form. Some previous releases had guitar tones that didn’t quite sit right in the mix for me, but here, everything clicks. The bass is well-balanced and present, not buried or bloated, and the overall mix is clean, heavy, and modern without sounding sterile.

But as much as I wanted to get swept up in it, there’s a sticking point I just couldn’t ignore: the vocals and songwriting direction. The vocal approach feels like a strange hybrid, imagine if Damageplan and Static-X co-wrote an album and passed the mic back and forth. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it throws me off in this context. There’s a sort of post-groove bark that feels disconnected from what I personally want from The Haunted. It’s not bad, but it’s distracting.

There’s a sameness that creeps in as the album rolls on. The songwriting doesn’t take many risks, and while it’s energetic and well-executed, it feels more like a genre exercise than a statement. The band's DNA is still in there, but the spark feels dimmed by some of the stylistic choices.

In the end, Songs of the Last Resort is a competent, well-produced album with flashes of the old fire, but it doesn’t quite hit the mark. For die-hards, there’s something to appreciate. For me, it’s a decent listen that never fully takes off.

Rating 6/10