A Little Background…
Some releases are coming out this year that I’m beyond excited about. I’ve been meaning to write about them, but things keep popping up that need my attention. But this one- this one is BIG!
Back in the day, 2016 to be exact, my whole world began revolving around stoner/doom. I remember one night in particular, I set up my speakers (Ohm Micro Walsh Talls nearfield (really close) with my new SVS PB-1000 sub after extensive tweaking. I got near concert-level volume sitting three feet back from the set-up, and it was glorious!
There was one standout that night: Haunted!
Haunted, their self-titled debut, is one of my favorite albums. Top 5 if we’re talking straight Doom. And I do mean straight, unfiltered and uncompromising Doom. They do have a certain similarity with Windhand when it comes to tempo and chord progressions. But that’s where the similarity ends.
I can write for hours, but what it comes down to is the vocal performance of Christina Chimirri. She sings like no one else in the heavy underground. If anything, she reminds me of an old-school jazz singer, able to twist and turn into her voice at will. It’s like every note is deliberately hit in a certain way to achieve maximum effect.
That the band is able to keep up with her is equally fascinating. The guitars, bass, and drums all have their own individual personalities that only come through when you listen deeply. On the surface, Haunted may sound like a dozen other droning Doom bands. But when you take the time to let it sink in, they are in a class all to themselves
Ripple Rumor Confirmed: Haunted!
So yeah, I think this is a pretty big deal. This is the first album since 2018’s Dayburner, and I was afraid they were gone forever. Being a fan of the heavy underground can be a bit like getting committed to a series on Netflix. You just never know when a fan favorite is going to be canceled, or in this case, when a band is simply going to disappear.
Christina has been on Facebook over the past year, dropping little hints there something is in the works. I never imagined, never dared to hope, that they would end up on Ripple. I guess some things are too dark to stay buried forever.
Here’s a bit from the press release from the always-surprising Purple Sage PR:
“The conceptual gestation of this new album has deep roots. The seeds are study, listening and experience. HAUNTED have tried to tell their journey of self-awareness, reunion, pacification, ideological freedom, and recognition of the Self and its complete destruction. They didn’t want to create nothing – and so they just stared at it. Lyrically, the band deals with “the Man who chooses, sees and accepts himself, and doesn’t come to terms with the Universe, with a God, with the Infinite, but only with himself – through a reverse mystical journey.“
With Kim Crowley on guitar and Luca Strano on drums, they lowered themselves headlong, sinking into the dark cavities of the ground. Their music then had to be vibrant, magnetic, deep, dark and powerful. They relied on the darker shades of heavy rock and the furious poetry of grunge, composing sharp rhythms on evocative metrics. As stated by US website Doomed & Stoned, “dank, surly low-end from bassist Frank Tudisco and bluesy doom riffage from guitarist Kim Crowley join thundering drums from Luca Strano, that seems to conjure the ebb and flow of the sea. This contrasts powerfully with Cristina Chimirri’s sublime vocals on the new spin, which is a monument to the exquisite emotional expressiveness and statuesque might of doom metal.”
Stare at Nothing is slated for release on April 19. If you’re unfamiliar with haunted, now’s a good time to catch up on their back catalog. And if you need a taste of the new stuff, click this link to my buddies over at Doomed and Stoned.
They have such delights to show you…
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