California’s Haunt have everything going for them. They have a strong aesthetic – a cool looking logo along with beautiful, articulate artwork that says not only should I listen to this band, but I also want to wear a shirt of that! This traditional metal unit is working hard and fast as well; I absolutely adored their full-length debut Burst Into Flame, released last August, and they have wasted no time in delivering their second full-length. Not only that, but they even buzzed out a four-song EP earlier this year, Mosaic Vision. Led by mainman Trevor Church (son of Montrose bassist Bill Church), this full second platter, If Icarus Could Fly, is a serious album of the year contender. Sitting at 30 minutes, my only wish is it ran longer, but the magnetic pull of this album is the beauty of simplicity and they leave listeners wanting more.

With eight tracks, most of them sit around the 3-and-a-half minute mark, with only two (the opener and close) eclipsing four minutes! Haunt are going to at times remind you of Thin Lizzy, early-Riot, Dianno-era Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, and Cauldron, but no mistake the sound is entirely their own. There’s a certain mystical vibe Haunt possesses, and that’s due in part to Church’s desperate vocal delivery which is akin to Cauldron’s Jason Decay. The songwriting tightens up a bit and even with similar song runtimes, the riffs and melodies are so well constructed and laid out, they all stand on their own merits. It never feels like I’m listening to the same thing over and over again. The guitars possess a killer and heavy tone and the melodic leads layered onto the riffs are to die for, while the drums and bass provide the ample rhythmic efforts to launch these songs about relationships, the supernatural, and fantasy into the stratosphere.

The time is now to become a Haunt Head folks. There is no reason why these guys can’t become heavy metal superstars.