An outstanding work of true art by the Swedish Metal Masters, that have set a standard ever since AT THE GATES ceased to exist that dreadful day of July 26, 1996, all of us that were lucky enough to witness the birth of a modern classic like Slaughter of the Soul at the time of its release, felt a bit disappointed at the disbanding of the band at the time, unknowingly of what the future would bring. About two decades and almost ten full-length albums later, THE HAUNTED, the project that continued to deploy the talent of some of the best songwriters and performers in the last era of Extreme and Heavy Metal is alive and well, and Strength in Numbers is the biggest proof of it.

Pioneers of Extreme Metal, before it was even named that way, the members of THE HAUNTED stretched the boundaries and set the tone for all the monstrous wave of bands that followed in the same order of work after them even after being able to brag about being the creators of the infamous Gothenburg sound. A work of overflowing creativity and the juxtaposition of elements by top class professionals to produce an unprecedented effect on its final audience, you! The outcome is a sharp and clear sound that denotes a flawless work of production and every detail needed to go with the masterful songwriting expertise of the musical professionals behind the instruments.

"Spark" is a melodic blend of elements that defines Metal beyond genres or arbitrary name tags for the way a band sounds, with enough changes and structural musical elements to make Beethoven proud, the verses, along with the shredding bridges and the atmospheric elements put together with the ever bone crunching segments of the guitar riffs and the rhythmic section of the bass guitar and drums. Without a Doubt, the world of Metal keeps on turning and will continue to do so even after most of us are long gone, and records like this make it all worthwhile, to be alive even through this notion of finitude that surrounds us all from time to time, a piece of metal prowess from the very first second of sound up to the very last, Strength in Numbers is as its title says it, the result of modern day metal legends working with state of the art technology of today to release an album to remind the current generations that nothing but the continuous growth of improvement and knowledge along with relentless work will keep a band like this one, one of the hardest world touring bands in the world, alive for many years still to come.