EP REVIEW: Do Not Resuscitate – The Haunt
A new chapter in what is the exact opposite of sibling rivalry, THE HAUNT have returned with their power-pop release Do Not Resuscitate. Being their latest EP following straight on from 2023’s Dead On Arrival, it’s a journey of hurting and healing, and most importantly, of haunting.
Consisting only of six tracks, the duo faced the challenge they have time and time again since their conception in 2018: how to convey a lifetime of thoughts, feelings and emotions in a short-lived musical fantasy. However, with the combination of frontwoman Anastasia Grace Haunt‘s creepily comforting vocals and Max Haunt‘s ruthless riffs, every song feels like a bedtime story that will keep the children up all night. It’s sweet and soothing between the lines of their now trademark pop-rock melodies. It’s catchy and fun while keeping hearts palpitating and breaths short out of anticipation. There is a sharp edge to every track; Little Like Hell is a youthful anthem dangled from spiderwebs ready for the taking, while Damage has a slow burn that moves into a nu-metal-like beat that can get the newest scenester and the most seasoned mosher moving and grooving, feeling it all and reeling from the flood of sensations.
Damage along with fellow track FML are the best examples of the true extent of the siblings’ talents in creation and production. Distortion bringing the loud-and-proud attitude the songs deserve, echoes that exaggerate the gentlest and smoothest words uttered from the Haunt sister’s lips, and bringing it all together so the chaos is controlled and the mess is organised. No mistakes, no button pressed at the wrong time, everything is calculated to explode when they want it to and when they need it to.
Power-pop is in its heyday as the 2020s roar on, as it borrows from punk and alternative sounds with the recreational freedom of popular music, and THE HAUNT are taking advantage of this height. Closing the EP off with the deepest cut in the skin that is On My Grave, it confirms that the two-piece punk act have found their feet and have found them at the right time in the right place. With stunning professional standards in production being put to practice, soulful and seething lyrics that pull the heartstrings in all directions, and musical harmony between the two siblings that is refreshing in contemporary spaces, there is nothing more to yearn for from Do Not Resuscitate. All one can want is more, more, more music. This is one brother-sister partnership that will never succumb to rivalry.
Rating: 9/10
Do Not Resuscitate is out now via Nettwerk.
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