by Derric Miller
— Managing Editor —
Every day is a day of worship — a day to bow your head and praise the Metal Gods for the music they have given us — when Trevor William Church is creating said music. Known originally for his Doom band Beastmaker, the hyper-prolific Church branched out to a wider spectrum of fans when he formed Haunt. And Haunt just keeps making music, every year, unlike 99 percent of bands, so try to keep up and digest Haunt’s newest release, Mind Freeze.
Galloping riffs begin the noggin blizzard on “Light the Beacon,” with Iron Maiden-ish riffs and vocals delivered in one of the most naturally delivered styles you’ve heard in a while. Maybe a bit like Jason Decay of Cauldron, but with more melody. There’s dueling leads and instinctual steroid-pounding drums on this perfect welcome to that which is Mind Freeze.
“Hearts on Fire” is a rager, a pummeling composition that is almost Speed Metal. You can’t really paint Haunt into a corner–they write what they write. There’s a bit of NWOBHM feel to the song, with European like sing-along sections to get the crowd into a mind-meld frenzy, and it’s one of the better songs on the release.
The title track, “Mind Freeze,” tempers things back to a more Classic Metal sound and fury. Again, you have to applaud Church not just for his songwriting, but his vocals. He knows his limitations, what he excels at, and in Haunt, everything sung is in his hip pocket. With an obvious myriad of influences both European and American, Haunt brings it all together.
“Saviors of Man” is a damn trippy song. The only way you know it’s Haunt is because it doesn’t sound like anything else on the release, and they’ve made it clear they will write whatever the hell they damn well please. So again, tagging them to a specific genre never really touches on every color on the palette.
“Voyager” is the part where the mind freeze starts fading and the nail-sharp pain begins to throb in a healing sense. Like “Saviors of Man,” it wields a bit of keys, or synthesizer, it splatters about, and just explodes with one of the best guitar solos on the album.
When Hozier sang, “Take Me to Church,” he may have been referring to forbidden love, or maybe he really wanted to frolic with the cat from “Pet Sematary” (God let’s hope!), or just maybe he was asking for more music from Church and fiends. Regardless, that last part of the ask is coming true, as Haunt shows no ability or desire to slow down for anyone. So check out Mind Freeze before Haunt releases another new album in 2020 and you are left with just a memory of a frost-bitten brain and little else …
Genre: NWOBHM/NWOTHM, Classic Metal
Band:
TREVOR WILLIAM CHURCH (Vocals, Guitar)
JOHN TUCKER (Backing Vocals, Guitar)
TAYLOR HOLLMAN (Bass)
DANIEL (WOLFIE) WILSON (Drums)
Tracklisting:
01. Light The Beacon
02. Hearts On Fire
03. Mind Freeze
04. Divide And Conquer
05. Saviors Of Man
06. Fight Or Flight
07. Have No Fear
08. On The Stage
09. Voyager
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records
Online:
https://www.facebook.com/hauntthenation/
Hardrock Haven rating: 
(7.9 / 10)
