The Metal Web - The Haunted Interview

w/JONAS BJORLER

Dawn/The Metal Web!: The Haunted just embarked on a major world tour in support of "One Kill Wonder". Currently as we speak, The Haunted just returned from the European part of this tour. So far has the tour been operating as planned and is there anything you'd like to report now that your back from the road for a breather that you may want your fans to know?

Jonas Bjorler: Everything has been great. We played all of Europe, South Africa, Japan, Australia. The funniest memory yet was the gas leak in Cesena, Italy, where everybody in the audience suddenly disappeared, because of a weird smell.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: Your US tour starts in May. With it being a couple years since The Haunted’s last tour to the US, how’s the band feeling about the return and what can the fans anticipate when The Haunted hits the stage?

Jonas Bjorler: First of all, the set will be at least 20 minutes longer. We'll be playing approximately twenty songs. It's gonna be great to be back in the US.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: Has there been a decision on who will be the tour support for The Haunted in the US?

Jonas Bjorler: We'll be joined by Kataklysm & Shai Hulud. Also, Darkest Hour will play some of the dates.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: Along with the new album, will there be any older material off the first two albums or even further back with "At The Gates" in the set list? If so, what can the fans expect to hear?

Jonas Bjorler: We will only play Haunted songs I'm afraid. But we will play the same amount of songs from each CD.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: How have fans and industry met "One Kill Wonder" thus far? It’s in the top ten, if not #1 on several charts. Not that we’d expect anything less, the new album is amazing!

Jonas Bjorler: The reviews have been great, and all the fans seem to like it. It's all good.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: "One Kill Wonder", what’s the signification behind the title of the album and the track itself?

Jonas Bjorler: The lyrics are about the media in general and the societal fascination of violence & death.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: "One Kill Wonder’s" album design is interesting. What’s the concept behind the cover or what would "The Haunted" like it to represent?

Jonas Bjorler: I don't really know what our designer thought of when he did the cover. I just like the symbolism and the feeling you get from it.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: The last time you used noted Producer Fredrik Nordström (In Flames, Arch Enemy, At the Gates) was back in 1997. With "One Kill Wonder", what made the band decide to bring him back in to produce for this recording session?

Jonas Bjorler: First off, The Haunted is co-producing the album. Which means that Fredrik had nothing to do with the arrangements or anything. The reason for choosing Fredman was that we all wanted to record in Gothenburg, because you can go home every night and listen to the recording.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: I recall you first started writing for this album around July of last year. How much time was spent on the album before being completed for release in February 2003?

Jonas Bjorler: We rehearsed every day between May - September and recorded it after that in 6 weeks. We had a finished product by the end of November 2002, but Earache needed some time to coordinate everything prior to the release.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: Are you and the band 100% satisfied with the outcome of the album or now that the albums completed you look back in retrospect and there are tracks that you have desire to have done differently or changed all together and what if anything, would you have changed? In my opinion, I don’t see "anything" that should have been changed. You know you guys are flawless! (Laughs)

Jonas Bjorler: The songs on the album are great, so I wouldn't change a thing.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: "One Kill Wonder" musically has been liken to "At the Gates". Do you yourself see that comparison?

Jonas Bjorler: Maybe the later At the Gates period. There are some similarities for sure.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: The semi-instrumental "Demon Eyes" has an awesome jam! Who contributed in the writing for this piece?

Jonas Bjorler: Well, it's really an old song originating from 1998, which we decided to rewrite a bit. I guess Anders did the most of that one.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: "D.O.A", I really dug the intro where you have an added effect of "marching". What's the denotation behind this track?

Jonas Bjorler: It's about war, ”Dead on Arrival”.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: The tracks just to name a few, "Godpuppet", "Shadow World", "Everlasting", "Downward Spiral" and the title track "One Kill Wonder" are a few of my favorites. When writing and I’ve told you this before, as musicians all of you are impeccable and with every album the band never ceases to amaze me. The writing contains so much theory in its composition that I have to ask, where does the arrangements come from, besides being polished musicians? (Laughs)

Jonas Bjorler: I guess we all help out in the rehearsal room. One of us has an idea, and we kind of work our way forward, like trial & error. “This works, and this sucks”, you know. Everybody helps out.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: What tracks do you see as best representing "The Haunted" off of "One Kill Wonder"?

Jonas Bjorler: DOA, Shadow World & One Kill Wonder.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: The Haunted released the first DVD "Caught On Tape" not to long ago. Which is great I may add. It consists of two shows from "The Haunted Made Me Do It" tour and some bonus footage. How does it feel to finally get the DVD released? When we last spoke it was still in the infancy stages and you were somewhat frustrated to get it out there for the fans.

Jonas Bjorler: I guess the quality is ok.. It would have been more fun to watch if we would have included some “behind the scenes” material. The set lists for the two shows are almost identical, which is a bit lame.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: Upon review of the DVD I did notice in the bonus footage that the members of the band with the exclusion of you and Anders contributed in the commentary for the new album. I was just curious as to why you and Anders were not involved with that fragment of the DVD?

Jonas Bjorler: I don't know. Maybe our English skills were very poor?

Dawn/The Metal Web!: From past releases, what primary constituent do you think of "One Kill Wonder" will set this album apart from the rest and why?

Jonas Bjorler: The sound and the production.

Dawn/The Metal Web!: Now I’m going to make you laugh. I asked you the last time "what do you find most challenging in "The Haunted" as opposed to past bands"? And you laughed and answered "The riffs! Hard stuff". Well with "One Kill Wonder", your bass structures were high-speed. Would you say "the riffs, hard stuff" to say the least? (Laughs)

Jonas Bjorler: Now the answer will be, trying to top “One Kill Wonder” with our next release!

Dawn/The Metal Web!: Well, Jonas the new album slams, not that one would envision anything less from "The Haunted". Great album! I hope to be covering the show in NJ on May 8th. C. from Earache is working on that as we speak. I’ll owe you a drink for being so patient. Just nothing to expensive, ok? (Laughs) With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!?

Jonas Bjorler: Yep, check us out live. It'll be fun & brutal!

OFFICIAL SITE "THE HAUNTED": http://www.the-haunted.com

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