Who would have thought that nine years after their inception, US trad metallers Haunt would be on the verge of their tenth full length album of new studio material? One of the most prolific bands in the business, the squad around band leader Trevor Church return with Setting Course, less than 15 months after their latest studio album.
The band now consists of founder Church, along with Andy Lei (guitars), Sammy Harman (bass) and drummer Andres Saldate. Just a few day ago, Fili Bibiano (Fortress) has been announced as the band’s new guitarist. It is not clear which one of these musicians has participated in the recording of the new album, but it is certainly obvious from the first few riffs that Setting Course will be another winner in Haunt’s discography. The title track is pure meat-and-potatoes heavy metal we know the band for, with The Wrong Way following with some fantastic melodic guitars and a killer hook in the chorus.
The DIY approach of Trevor Church has been working extremely well so far and his growth as producer through the years is striking. The strength of the new album doesn’t only come from the fat, face-hitting sound though, but even more from the quality and catchiness of the new songs. Trevor has a very distinctive singing style and compositional pattern which distinguishes Haunt from the majority of bands in the genre, but this has also resulted in some albums which failed to grasp the listener’s attention until the end.
This is not the case with Setting Course, which offers some nice, playful, unexpected twists and turns here and there, opening and expanding the effect of songs such as Buried Treasure (a great solo!), the lively, speedier hymn Spent Sanity and the closing guitar shred showcase Shadow Within.
Haunt have managed to compose one of their strongest music for Setting Course and Trevor should be proud of the result of this past decade of hard work and relentless touring.
9/10
Setting Course is out on October 2nd and can be ordered from HERE
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