Album Review: The Halo Effect – Days of the Lost
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
There was a big intake of breath amongst melodic death metal fans when the announcement of the formation of The Halo Effect was made. It is practically a fantasy lineup for fans of the genre. A supergroup made up of ex-members of In Flames playing Gothenburg style melodic death metal. As a fan of the classic era of In Flames as well as stalwarts of the melodeath scene such as Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork, At The Gates and Hypocrisy this band announcement was like a dream come true. Made up of the guitar team of Jesper Strömblad and Niclas Engelin, the rhythm section of bassist Peter Iwers and drummer Daniel Svensson and then fronted the vocal powerhouse that is Mikael Stanne, this is a melodeath fans wet dream. But the big question is does it sound any good?
Days Of The Lost, the debut album from the band, is not a throwback album (sorry those hoping this would be a continuation of the classic In Flames sound of albums like The Jester Race, Whoracle and Colony). Days Of The Lost manages to take the legacy of the classic old school Gothenburg melodeath sound and put it through some modern filters. It is a reflection on the members musical past whilst equally sounding fresh and vibrant. It will definitely bring a smile to fans of the classic melo-death sound with songs like the title track, Conditional and Feel What I Believe whilst album opener Shadowminds has nods to modern Dark Tranquillity. The Needless End, In Broken Trust and A Truth Worth Lying For have a more progressive feel to them at times taking influence from modern day Amorphis though another standout is Gateways which is a fantastic song with a very melancholic air to it which is always pleasing to this reviewer's ears. Another one with a bit of a darker feel is the fabulous Last Of Our Kind (which features a guest appearance from melodeath superfan Matt Heafy of Trivium).
As can be expected with the calibre of musicians in this band, the musicianship is off the scale with a plethora of awesome riffs, melodies and some powerhouse rhythms. The vocals from Mikael Stanne also (as expected) are absolutely fantastic. He has in my opinion one of the best harsh vocals in the business and we also get treated to a few uses of his brilliant and underrated clean vocals.
Although it isn’t a straight-ahead throwback to the 90’s Gothenburg melo-death sound, it courses through the veins of Days Of The Lost whilst throwing in sounds, ideas and influences the band members have picked up through their many years playing music. The Halo Effect is essentially five friends playing music that they love together and that is abundantly clear from just how damn good this album is. There is a lot of hype and expectation for The Halo Effect and I can say it well and truly delivers. This is music that is fast, heavy, melodic, anthemic and altogether joyous. An absolutely fantastic debut album and I hope there is more to come from this project.
