3) “Seize The Day”
[youtube]https://youtu.be/9a3l-Y3C8lk[/youtube]
Collateral Damage, was included in the European box-set edition of Versus. “Seize The Day,” the bonus disc’s opener, would’ve been one of the heaviest scorchers on Versus, had it been included in the regular track sequence. It’s a thrasher that’s delivered very much in the spirit of rEVOLVER’s “Nothing Right” and “Who Will Decide?” The song also appears as a bonus track on the 2010 live release, Road Kill.
4) “The Exit”
[youtube]https://youtu.be/9Bb2vY2dnuU[/youtube]
Back when CDs were the predominant form of owning music, and before ripping them to a computer was so commonplace, hidden tracks were solid gold. Let a CD play out, forget about it, then a few minutes after the last note of the last song, something new comes on. Something secret. Something special… just for you. “The Exit” is the hidden track from The Dead Eye, probably The Haunted’s most successful record from the Dolving era(s). It’s a haunting, key-driven rumination on the comfort of hell as long as that hell is occupied with the right company. When people first started slamming Unseen for its lack of heaviness, I assumed when I heard it that I’d be in for more “The Exit”-type material, but that wasn’t the case; while the tracks from Unseen definitely pulsed with a kind of ambiguous melancholy, there’s a minor simplicity to “The Exit” that’s downright sinister. A killer closer for any compilation. And if you have to listen to “The Guilt Trip” to get to it, so be it, man. Both outstanding songs.
5) “Fire Alive”
[youtube]https://youtu.be/Pd7OZppr8BQ[/youtube]
Peter Dolving’s return to the band after Finnish freight train Marco Aro’s two-record tenure was some seriously hyped shit… and with good reason. rEVOLVER pounded with all the frenzy of the band’s first three albums, but Jensen and the Björlers also put a lot of work into writing melodic songs over which Dolving could really flex his oddity. The album came in several formats, and the American digipak featured two bonus tracks: “Smut King” and “Fire Alive.” They both jam, but I’ve highlighted “Fire Alive” because its start-stop pacing and chugging chorus make it stand out slightly from the rest of rEVOLVER; it’s not as fast and vicious as “No Compromise” or “99,” but it’s not as creepy and plodding as “Abysmal” or “My Shadow.” Definitely worth checking out if you’ve only ever heard the standard version… also because, unlike a lot of bonus versions, these two extra tracks are actually worked into the album sequence. For me, not having them there changes the entire listening experience.
