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░ ██ ██ Artist: Haunt ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Mind Freeze █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2020 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2020-01-22 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Heavy Metal ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Shadow Kingdom Records ░ ▄█
█▄ ░ Encoder: FLAC 1.3.1 ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Quality: 44.1kHz, 2 channels ░ ▄█
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ At a point in time where most bands take at least █
█ two years between albums, HAUNT's generous █
█ prolificity has been a real treat over the last █
█ couple of years. Not content with producing some █
█ of the best doom metal of recent years with █
█ BEASTMAKER, frontman and creative mastermind █
█ Trevor Church clearly had some extra fire in his █
█ belly when he launched HAUNT and their exuberant █
█ paeans to all things traditional in metal and hard █
█ rock. The result is that "Mind Freeze" is the █
█ band's third record in as many years and, somewhat █
█ against the odds you might think, their finest by █
█ some margin. Where a lot of other retro-minded █
█ metal bands get bogged down in surface details and █
█ painstaking reproduction of an era they never █
█ directly experienced, HAUNT have been all about █
█ the songs and the vibe from the very start. And █
█ while both 2017's "Burst Into Flame" and last █
█ year's "If Icarus Could Fly" were full of █
█ invigorating moments, "Mind Freeze" feels like the █
█ moment where Church's refined hybrid of THIN █
█ LIZZY, ANGEL WITCH, early MAIDEN and slightly █
█ later PRIEST takes on its own identity and simply █
█ becomes the HAUNT sound. █
█ █
█ Opener "Light The Beacon" is a brilliantly punchy █
█ starting point, with opulent helpings of twin-lead █
█ harmonizing and a hook so huge it can probably be █
█ seen from space. "Divide And Conquer" owes a more █
█ significant debt to US power metal than it does to █
█ the expected British pioneers, and it's a subtle █
█ change of emphasis that suits HAUNT perfectly, █
█ adding to the breadth of their vision in the █
█ process. Similarly, "Saviors Of Man" and "Have No █
█ Fear" incorporates synths and a faint whiff of █
█ psychedelic intent, coming across like a strange █
█ blend of early HELLOWEEN and BLUE OYSTER CULT. In █
█ less capable or classy hands, it could all seem █
█ like a cynical pastiche, but as they proved on █
█ those first two albums, HAUNT are breathing new █
█ life into this stuff, not just propping up a █
█ corpse. Unlike many of their backward-looking █
█ contemporaries, the Fresno quartet are making █
█ vital, exciting records that more than deserve █
█ respect in the modern metal world. Yes, this is █
█ aimed squarely at fans of the old school, but █
█ heavy metal thunder rarely sounds more alive or █
█ more explosively in the moment than it does here. █
█ Let's hope Church and his comrades keep the work █
█ rate up; we can definitely handle a lot more █
█ records like this. █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. Light The Beacon 4:25 ░
░ 2. Hearts On Fire 3:25 ░
░ 3. Mind Freeze 5:31 ░
░ 4. Divide And Conquer 4:29 ░
░ 5. Saviors Of Man 4:01 ░
░ 6. Fight Or Flight 2:36 ░
░ 7. Have No Fear 4:34 ░
░ 8. On The Stage 4:12 ░
░ 9. Voyager 3:54 ░
░ 37:07 ░
░ ▒ ▒
▓ █ ░ ▓ ░
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