Haunting Flashback

No band is more productive than Haunt. Since releasing their debut EP back in 2017, the band has released a staggering amount of material. It is ridiculous how many records they have pumped out in such a short period of time. Haunt already released a new album, Mind Freeze, earlier this year, but hey, with touring bands trapped at home due to the pandemic, might was well write and record another one, right?

Flashback is Haunt's fourth album overall, and these eight songs give you exactly what you'd expect from the band. Solid traditional metal.

Haunt decided to stay away from streaming services like Spotify with this release, and are limiting it's release to only Bandcamp and physical formats. I get that Bandcamp is a more attractive option for bands, but I only use it to preview a record to see if I want to buy it...I'll never actively go to Bandcamp to listen to an album, so it looks like Flashback will only get playing time on my turntable...which means that I'll probably only give it the occassional spin.

200 pressed on blue vinyl.

I was recently talking with my friend Jeff, who had just discovered Haunt, and he was very excited about the band. That excitement was contagious as I then rushed out to buy another record from the band.

The man behind Haunt, Trevor William Church, was not happy with the recordings for their first full length album, Burst Into Flame. He recently spent some time cleaning up those songs, and decided to release them as this limited Burst Into Demos record. I'm not sure that I really needed this, but I loved the album art work, and after talking with Jeff, I couldn't resist adding another Haunt record to the collection. Only 250 pressed, and all on this red colored vinyl. There is supposed to be some gold splatter in the red vinyl, but thankfully my copy doesn't have much of it.

Freezing Haunt

I was late picking up the new Haunt album last year, and when I was scrambling at the end of 2019 to catch up on what I'd missed, the colored vinyl options were sold out and I settled on the common black vinyl pressing. Shortly after picking up that 2019 release, If Icarus Could Fly, preorders were up for the lasted Haunt album, Mind Freeze...and not wanting to miss out on the colored vinyl, I quickly ordered.

Both colored vinyl options looked amazing with the cover for Mind Freeze, but I went with the "frozen pinwheel" option. Once again, the packaging from Shadow Kingdom Records is top notch.

Haunt play a traditional heavy metal style, and have to be one of the most productive bands around. This record is my first 2020 release that I've picked up, and I'm sure we will see another EP or something from them before the year is out.

Haunted Icarus Visions

Another late addition from 2019 that could have possibly cracked my Top 10 for the year if I hadn't ignored this record for most of the year. While Haunt released If Icarus Could Fly back in March I wasn't really paying attention.

After Trevor William Church released a 12 inch EP plus a full length album with his band Haunt in 2018, and then released ten EPs of material with his band Beastmaker, I was feeling a little overwhelmed with it all, so when Haunt released If Icarus Could Fly in 2019, I decided to sit that one out. I did however pick up the Haunt split 7 inch with Seven Sisters, and as I was checking it out at the end of the year, I was completely hooked by the Haunt song. The song was so good that it made me go back and check out If Icarus Could Fly and I was surprised at how much I was enjoying it.

All the colored vinyl options were sold out at Shadow Kingdom Records, and while I could have spent a few extra dollars to grab one off Discogs, I decided to settle for the black vinyl.

When I was picking up the last Haunt album from Shadow Kingdom Records, I discovered that they also released another EP, Mosaic Visions, at some point last year. Does this band ever fucking stop?

Mosaic Visions contains songs that were left over from the Luminous Eyes sessions back in 2018. Not wanting to miss out on the colored vinyl option, I scooped one up while I was already in the Shadow Kingdom store. More great traditional heavy metal from Haunt!

Haunting Of Seven Sisters

Haunt have been very productive since coming onto the metal scene. They released their debut EP, Luminous Eyes in 2017, and then followed it up with a new album, Burst Into Flame, in 2018...and when they released two more records in 2019, I was feeling overwhelmed with the number of Haunt releases, and I just ignored both of them. However, when I saw they released a couple of split 7 inches this year as well, I figured that I'd jump on at least of them.

Haunt play a traditional metal style, and while I might have been burned out on the band, this song is so good that it makes me wonder if I made a mistake in ignoring their two records that they released this year. Damn it. Now I'm going to have to go check them out.

The main reason that I picked up this split 7 inch was to check out the Seven Sisters song. I didn't really spend much time with their album from 2018, and I never even grabbed it on vinyl, but I was still very interested to hear what they had to offer on this split with Haunt. This is such a fun split 7 inch, that I'm not regretting no picking up the split that Haunt did with Fortress as well.

Haunted Flame

Trevor William Church is a busy man. Not only is he the driving force for Beastmaker, but he also has Haunt going as well. The Haunt EP from earlier this year was pretty solid, so when they released their first album a few months later, I was on board to check it out.

This is some solid heavy metal. It doesn't exactly blow me away, but it is worth a spin.

Shadow Kingdom Records pressed this album on a few different colors, with the black and the silver pressings being more limited, but man, that orange/red split with black splatter looked so damn good that I had to grab one. 1,500 pressed but who cares when it looks this good. Nice addition of a giant poster as well!

Haunted Eyes

There may have still been snow on the ground when I first started hearing about Haunt earlier this year. I had no clue about this band, but I made some assumptions based on the posts I was seeing on Instagram, and thinking they were Death Metal, I ignored them.

Months later, I discovered that Haunt is basically a project from Trevor William Church, who fronts the Doom band, Beastmaker, that did a couple of albums with Rise Above Records. When I heard that Haunt was to have more of a traditional metal sound, I finally gave in and grabbed a download to check them out.

The Luminous Eyes EP is only four songs long, and it is a great introduction to a cool new band.

While I missed the boat on the first pressing, I was okay with the colored vinyl option for the second press. 300 pressed on orange and white vinyl.