The Haunted The Dead Eye

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Reviewed by: Rob McFeters   //   Published: 11/11/2006

All right Mr. Dolving; you've made it quite apparent that you aren't overly concerned with maintaining any ties to your past musical endeavors. Wearing a cowboy hat in your promo-photos is fine (I'm fairly sure the singer of Poison wore one all the time too), and your performance on your new album speaks volumes. I'm just giving you a hard time about the cowboy hat thing.

However, I'm dead serious (like Scott Vogel) about my disappointment with The Haunted's fifth album, The Dead Eye. I, unlike many people, really enjoyed rEVOLVEr and, like many people, have been a big fan of The Haunted. Granted there were some stylistic shifts on the previous album, but I wasn't bothered. I don't mind when bands experiment and try new things. But this time around, the members of The Haunted have pushed things too far and left us with an album that feels quite hollow in comparison to their previous efforts.

The Dead Eye is noticeably lacking the raw energy that drove the self-titled debut and Made Me Do It and, as a result, this album sounds a bit phoned in. More often than not, it sounds like these riffs are just rehashed from earlier albums, with a fraction of the intensity. Sure there are heavy and interesting riffs here and there, but you'll have sit though a couple of songs before you'll find them. The drumming is much less forceful this time around, and many of these songs are played at an easy, mid-tempo. One thing bothering me about this album is Peter Dolving's affinity for this white trash attempt at singing. I heard it a little on rEVOLVEr, but it's all over this album. It gets old and isn't something I want to hear. I'm not sure what's going on, but even some of the riffs sound like some strange Pantera rip-off, so there's even more white thrash for you. Check out the fourth track "The Drowning" and you'll hear what I'm talking about, as well as a big C.O.C. influence.

Some tracks can barely be classified as metal, so I'm a bit shocked here. There are way too many mellow moments with half-assed attempts at singing. Check out the seventh track, "The Fallout" for a reference. They even threw in a weird ballad with a piano as a secret track. This isn't The Haunted that I fell in love with. What are you guys doing Come back to me!

Bottom Line: I really hate to give this a negative review, but there are barely any moments throughout The Dead Eye that even sound like The Haunted. Well, I guess bands change and that's their prerogative. However, with the extreme lack of energy and barely successful forays into unfamiliar territory, I won't be able to go along with The Haunted anymore.

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