Haint – Terminally Evolved EP review

Belfast’s powerful 3 piece Haint Deliver a hefty 5 tracks of great music

If you like your music heavy, progressive, with lots of melodies, and yet still doomy and dark, then Haint and their new EP is made for you.

Gifting us 5 tracks and just over 26 minutes of hard-hitting riffs, vocals, and atmosphere, the EP starts with no messing around with long intros etc. just BLAM, and “Ares” hits you around the head like a sock full of snooker balls. In the same sort of camp as Neurosis, the track ebbs and flows like a tide of boulders whilst Ian and Darren trade vocals. A very hefty start to proceedings!

Starting at the opposite end of the scale with a pleasant yet haunting guitar melody “Hal” has a definite alternative rock start to proceedings with a few harmonised vocals, before it takes a heavier, yet still very melodic turn. I like this one! “Screaming At The Storm” follows a similar yet more staccato approach with softer and then much harder movements clashing like the sea against Giant’s Causeway during a storm!

I’ve already mentioned Neurosis as a comparison to Haint, but the fourth number “Everything I lost” has me thinking Sleep Token or even Spiritbox in the way the song is crafted. Heavy and haunting – just get ready for the very end – I’m not going to spoil it for you! Finishing off on a nice heavy and progressive song, “Genius Loci“, has a pounding beat that’s almost industrial in places adding to the layers already present throughout the previous tracks.

I’ve seen Haint live and I can say that their earlier material was superb. With this EP, the lads have taken things up by several notches, and I cannot wait to hear this new material in the live setting!

This is a superb EP, delivering on all fronts and should see Haint reaching a bigger and much-deserved audience. Heavy and tuneful, you cannot go wrong with this!!

Line up: Ian – Vocals & Guitars, Darren – Vocals & Bass, Steve – Drums. Steve left the band in August and has been replaced with his blessing by Mark

Links

Bandcamp: https://haintuk.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Haint.UK?locale=en_GB

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haint_uk/?hl=en-gb