The Haunted

The Haunted is a Swedish thrash metal band with melodic death metal influences, formed in 1996. The original members were Patrik Jensen (also member of Witchery) on guitar, Jonas Björler (bass), Adrian Erlandsson (drums), Anders Björler (guitar), and Peter Dolving (vocals). Both of the Björler brothers and Erlandsson were members of seminal melodic death metal band At the Gates, a pioneering force in the Swedish death metal scene. The current drummer is Per Möller Jensen. All members (past and present) are from Gothenburg, Sweden, with the exception of Per Möller Jensen, who is from Denmark, and Patrik Jensen, who is from Linköping.

The Haunted released their first album, while signed to Earache Records, the selftitled debut The Haunted, in 1998. Before this, they had also made their demo, called Demo '97, in 1997. The album resulted in The Haunted being praised as Newcomer of the Year by several magazines, and the album being called Album of the Year by Terrorizer Magazine. The Haunted made a respectable live reputation staging the Swedish metal scene, but as well the international, as touring UK with Napalm Death.

Complementing the collective instrumental virtuosity was Dolving's performance, which - graced with unflinching candor and scalpel-like insight into human behavior - navigated fearlessly through the explorations into the power of the human voice and the depths of unmitigated anger.

After the release of this album, Peter Dolving and Adrian Erlandsson both left The Haunted in 1999, the latter joining Cradle of Filth. Marco Aro was recruited as a new vocalist and Per Möller Jensen as drummer. The Haunted second album, The Haunted Made Me Do It, released in 2000, and was more melodic and resembled the Gothenburg style (with bands such as At the Gates etc) more than old-school thrash metal that was used on The Haunted. The Haunted Made Me Do It topped CMJ Loud Rock Radio Chart in four weeks, and won a Swedish Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Album". The album was followed by European tours with Entombed and Nile, The Crown in UK, and In Flames in Japan. The Haunted played on festivals such as 2000 Decibel, Hultsfred (both in Sweden), Graspop (Belgium), and Wacken Open Air (Germany). The Haunted subsequently released their first and so far only live album - Live Rounds in Tokyo.

Nothing seemed to be able to stop The Haunted, until August 2001, when guitarist / songwriter Anders Björler left The Haunted and he was temporarily replaced by Marcus Sunesson of The Crown for The Haunted's headlining tour; in less than a year Björler returned to The Haunted. Perfect timing for being featured on the third studio album.

The next album was released in February of 2003 and was titled One Kill Wonder. The Haunted broke their own record being listed at number one on CMJ Loud Rock Radio Chart in five weeks. Alternative Press hailed The Haunted as one of metal's 25 most important bands. The album resulted in The Haunted dominating album charts all over the world, and their first tours to Australia and South Africa, another tour to Japan, and a second Grammy. After another tour to Scandinavia, North America, United Kingdom and Europe in the fall of 2003, the sudden departure of Marco Aro came as a shock. Though, this opened a new chance of building up a reunion with former vocalist Peter Dolving.

Their first album with Peter Dolving back at the helm (and signed by a new deal with Century Media), was entitled rEVOLVEr. The new album was released in October of 2004 and named as it was to convey the evolution of The Haunted  and the music it plays as a whole. "rEVOLVEr" was met with a fair amount of fan support and critical acclaim, and The Haunted toured the world extensively in support of it, including a second stage spot at Ozzfest 2005. In February 2 of 2005, Marco Aro played his last show in Stockholm, Sweden but as a guest singer.

The Haunted's latest studio album, The Dead Eye, was released on October 30 2006 in Europe and so far has been a huge success, showing a more sinister side to Dolving's vocals and a more technical, haunting musical display. It was released in the USA on October 31, 2006. The Haunted later toured Europe and toured with Dark Tranquillity, Into Eternity, and Scar Symmetry for the North America Metal For The Masses tour. The Haunted recently toured Europe for the Cursed Earth tour with bands like Wolf, Municipal Waste, and Lyzanxia and took a break to later return to play in tours and some shows in Russia.

The Haunted combines the sounds of 1980s Bay Area thrash metal acts like Metallica and Forbidden, as well as Los Angeles thrash metal bands Slayer and Dark Angel, with the local Swedish death metal stylings of such bands as Dark Tranquillity. There is also some influence from hardcore punk, most noticeable in the vocals.

The Haunted latest album, The Dead Eye of 2006 displays a heavily melodic, slowed down, and melancholic approach (in terms of both musicianship and song writing) which was introduced in rEVOLVEr. Also a darker approach to Peter Dolving's lyrics was introduced with content like dogma and his own cynicism.

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