About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

The REAL Haunted DVD.



Pros

• Impeccably shot.
• Lots of goodies.
• A must for the Haunted collector.

Cons

• Road movie is somewhat boring.
• Set list is one sided and a bit uninteresting.
• Could have included more B-sides.

Description

• Released June 8th, 2010 on Century Media Records.
• This is The Haunted’s second DVD, but first career-spanning collection.
• Directed by guitarist Anders Bjorler.

Guide Review - Haunted, The - 'Roadkill: On The Road With The Haunted'

Though Sweden’s resident post-thrash kings The Haunted have released a DVD once before—2002’s live collection Caught On Tape—said excursion was really more of a false start than anything else. Released during the years Marco Aro fronted the band—following the departure of founding screamer Peter Dolving—Caught On Tape was mainly an easy way to hype the band’s then-forthcoming One Kill Wonder, while adding a live show to the deal to sweeten the pot.

In comparison, Roadkill is much more band-defining and career-spanning, detailing The Haunted’s history with both frontmen in On the Road With The Haunted, a road movie which combines both band biography and tour diary in one swiftly narrated mini-movie. Artistically shot by Haunted/At the Gates axeman Anders Bjorler (a trade the guitarist seems to enjoy, after having also helmed the At the Gates Flames of the End three-disc-collection), Roadkill also includes an entire live set from a tour stop in Amsterdam, as well as all of The Haunted’s promo videos.

Wait…but there’s more! The real nitty gritty of Roadkill is the audio material, since disc two of this collection contains not only an expanded Amsterdam set (featuring the entire, discography-spanning setlist, as opposed to the DVD’s focus on newer material), but all of the band’s promo videos, as well. For the diehards, there are also five bonus audio tracks; B-sides and Japanese bonus tracks from The Haunted’s more recent studio releases. These include “Sacrifice”, “Meat Wagon”, “Walk On Water”, “Seize the Day” and “Infernalia Mundi”…all of which is awesome, though the real jewels—“Burner” and “I’ll Be Damned”—are glaringly missing. Perhaps a disc consisting solely of Haunted B-sides is in order?

There are a number of bumouts on this DVD, however. For one, the road movie is needlessly depressing, and seems to focus relentlessly upon how BORING The Haunted proclaim themselves on tour, and how much they seem to hate going out on the road. While we all know that the touring life isn’t all cocaine and sex orgies, the fact that The Haunted do little else but complain about the 23 hours of the day which AREN’T spent on stage leads the audience to feel agitation, rather than pity.

Additionally, the filmed live set could have done with a bit more variety, including more older material from the CD, therefore giving a more balanced depiction of the stylistic progression and journey the band has taken since their 1996 inception. The fact that there is no Dimebag/Damageplan footage here is a bit odd, as well. Though one could forgive The Haunted for feeling that inclusion could have toed the line of bad taste, some feel good footage of the former Pantera axeman partying and living it up with The Haunted dudes could have done the hearts of his fans some good.

Ah well…maybe for the sequel, then?



Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.