Album Review: The Other - Haunted
Reviewed by Jon Wigg
German horror-punk band The Other return with their eight full length effort in 'Haunted'. Starting as a Misfits cover band in the early part of the 2000’s, it’s clear to see and hear how much influence this seminal band has had on The Other. Formed of Rod Usher (Vocals), Ben Crowe and Pat Leveau (Guitars), Aaron Torn (Bass) and Dr. Caligari (Drums) they present a well-produced, if imbalanced album of gothic, pop-punk and metal which left me cold (or should that be lukewarm) during the first few tracks before chilling my bones later on with some great tracks.
First the not so good. The opening four tracks, ‘Mark Of The Devil’, ‘We’re All Dead’, ‘Turn It Louder’ and ‘Dead To You – Dead To Me’ are pretty much generic 21st century pop-punk with a little bit of gothic metal thrown in. There’s nothing wrong here, and the best of the bunch is opener ‘Mark Of The Devil’ which trips along nicely, but these are tracks for Kerrang TV and nothing really stands out.
The album really gets going with the standout fifth track ‘Was Uns Zerstört’ which is sung in German and this really helps the track. An upbeat punky start before a catchy chant-along section and The Other start demonstrating much more of the malevolence you would expect given their image and subject matter. This continues during the next few tracks with a much more 90’s Misfits sound and feel. It also aids Usher’s singing style which has a definite Dave Vanian edge to it. ‘On My Skin’ and ‘1408 & 217’ are great songs which increase the tempo while scaling back the pop-punk elements replacing with more metal and goth sections. ‘Vampire Girl’ and ‘Absolution’ keep this going with some nice galloping sections and chant-able choruses. ‘Fading Away’ is a much more gothy affair with maybe a little bit of influence from The Cult. Tempo slowed down to good effect before it ramps up again for metaller ‘Creepy Crawling’. ‘To Hell And Back’ and ‘The Silence After The First Show’ close the album in good style, while not of the standard of the previous few tracks.
There is a lot to like here for fans of gothic metal, punk and horror films but for me, I had to get through the first 4 tunes before the meat of the album presented itself. If this had been just the last 9 tracks, I would have been a lot happier, but please don’t be put off by the average start as there is some great stuff on 'Haunted', with standouts being ‘Was Uns Zerstört’, ‘Creepy Crawling’ and Absolution’.
The Other release 'Haunted' on June 12th via Drakkar Entertainment
