Haunt: If Icarus Could Fly (2019)

Moving away from death metal releases from 2019, here we have a good old traditional metal release from 2019.  I discussed Haunt not all that long ago with their 2019 EP Mosaic Vision.  The band has been very prolific already in their young careers, also releasing this full-length and two splits this year alone.  And, their 2020 full-length has already been announced (and I have it on pre-order). 

As much as I enjoyed the EP, I think this release is even better.  The riffs are a little harder-edged on this release than the previous one, without sacrificing any of the catchiness and infectious hooks.  The songs are aggressive, yet melodic with incendiary solos.  The vocals are dry, yet soar over the riffs.

This is something of a loose concept piece about Greek myths including that of Icarus.  I am sure most are familiar with that storyline.  Icarus and his father became trapped in the labyrinth with a minotaur and attempted to leave by building themselves wings out of wax and feathers.  They flew out of the labyrinth, but Icarus flew too close to the sun, melting the wax and his wings fell apart with Icarus plummeting to his death.  Of course the story of Icarus was also the subject of the Iron Maiden classic "Flight of Icarus". 

This is a damn good album.  It is one of the better traditional metal albums of the year and even surpasses the band's EP from this year.  I will be keeping up with Haunt in the future, which may prove difficult, as prolific as they are.