Touring the world has always been a much mythologized exploit, bringing to mind images of excess, drunken lunacy and general free-spirited adventure in the minds of many; hell, the idea of piling into a tour bus to go travelling with a bunch of mates has in itself been a major reason behind the formation of countless bands. With just under fifteen years’ experience together The Haunted are more qualified than most to reflect on the true merits and drawbacks of the touring lifestyle, and their new feature length documentary ‘Road Kill’ provides a non-sanitised, painfully honest look at a way of life that is so often misrepresented.
Don’t mistake ‘Road Kill’ for a dour moan-fest concerned exclusively with bus breakdowns, shit stained dressing rooms and torrid weather though, as while no punches are pulled here and all of the former adversities raise their heads this is also a bloodstained loveletter to the band’s last few years and to the incredible hour on stage that pulls them through the other 23 hours of tedium. Featuring contributions from band members past and present including former vocalist Marco Aro, (remarkably candid about his reasons for parting ways with the band) this road movie is a revealing, sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious work that guitarist and director/editor Anders Björler can be rightfully proud of, and that gives those watching a real insight into the life of The Haunted.
This in itself makes ‘Road Kill’ an essential buy for Haunted die-hards, but there’s plenty more besides: a full live set filmed at Amsterdam’s Melkweg, a selection of music videos, and on the DVD/CD set an extended audio document of the Melkweg show, complete with a number of bonus tracks from the ‘Versus’ sessions. The Amsterdam show finds the band on ferocious form, vocalist Peter Dolving as malevolently compelling and darkly humorous as ever while the band rip through a set of material drawn largely from ‘Versus’ and ‘The Dead Eye’, but including a number of fan favourites like ‘Hate Song,’ ‘D.O.A’, ‘All Against All’ and ‘99’. Sound quality is impressive throughout, as is the camera work and editing, while the CD’s bonus tracks give yet another powerful incentive to pick this up. Chances are that the majority of fans won’t need to see reviews like this in order to decide that this is a package worth investing in, but for newcomers to the band this is also a pretty unbeatable introduction to one of the metal world’s most visceral live bands.
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