Hauntu are a 5 piece from San Diego. The Unknown Reigns is Hauntu‘s debut album and follows on from a 7in record, simply titled ‘I’. According to their bandcamp page, they describe themselves as “ghost-punk” I’ve seen elsewhere that their sound is described as death rock, so can only assume that this is a pun of sorts on post punk and death rock. From checking out their entry on Discogs, I’m not able to ascertain whether the band members have played in bands that have released music previously.
Anyway, as we are here, let’s have a potted description of death rock courtesy of Google AI: “Deathrock is a dark, theatrical rock music subgenre that blends the raw energy of punk with the moody aesthetics of gothic rock, heavily influenced by horror films and B-movies, originating in the early 1980s Los Angeles punk scene with bands like Christian Death and 45 Grave. It features dark, macabre lyrics, driving guitars, and a distinct visual style, sitting between punk and traditional goth, focusing on campy horror, monsters, and surrealism.”
Rebecca’s lead vocal here is not really my bag. I love a female vocal, me, but for my tastes, this is a bit to, er, “singy”? It reminds me weirdly of that lass from that terrible theatrical Christian rap rock band Evanescence. No offence intended to either party, it’s just really not my thing. I’m sure there’s other people that might proper buzz off it or whatever. I’m not sure it sits especially well with the music, however, especially on side A. Something kind of feral and a bit abrasive comes more to the fore on the flipside, and ticked a box for me here.
Musically, there’s a comparison to be drawn to gothy chorus driven European post punk bands such as Athens’ Chain Cult and French band Bleakness. I’m kind of put in mind of when AFI veered away from hardcore punk and started to become pompously bloated and pseudo-grandiose. A lot of people may love that shit, but I’m still kind of scratching my head over it, and frankly, I find it ridiculous even 20-odd years after the fact. I’d also say it touches a bit on that Tiger Army sound, but without the cheesily overblown psychobilly parts. The guitar sound in places has this really cool slightly discordant edge that for some reason recalls Today is the Day, an extremly noisy band from the Southern US, that allegedly dwell at some kind of survivalist compound, and the “singer” thinks he’s possessed. He eats lightbulbs, apparently. Yummy. Anyway, that’s a bunch of flavours in the mix there (excluding lightbulbs, of course), that’s made for a fairly cool sounding result.
If I had one complaint, the vocal can make this record feel a bit samey at times. However, there’s some really great standout moments like The End of Days, which opens side B with intent, and is without a doubt my top pick from the record. Overall, the record seems to really hit it’s stride on side B in my opinion, with the guitar parts on All’s Well (in Hell) backed with a relentless drum track inspiring a genuinely edgy sense of menace. It’d be lazy to dismiss this LP as being for crow-bumming latter day AFI fans, with crossover appeal for psychobilly posers with shoe-buff quiffs. There’s some pretty cool stuff going here, actually, and I find myself keen to check out what Hauntu go on to do next.
Tony of Nurgle rating: 7/10
The Unknown Reigns is available Coke Bottle Clear with Poppy Red (coluor in colour) vinyl, and is limited to 200 copies. Available in the UK / EU from Engineer Records, or the US from Sell The Heart Records and direct from the band at their bandcamp page.
