Album Review: The Halo Effect - March Of The Unheard
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
2025 gets off to a fine start music wise as Swedish melodic death metal titans The Halo Effect release their second album “March Of The Unheard”. For those not in the know, The Halo Effect is a group made up of ex-members of In Flames with many from what is generally seen as the golden era of the band. You have Jesper Strömblad and Niclas Engelin on guitars, Peter Iwers on bass, David Svensson on the drums and Mikael Stanne (also of Dark Tranquillity, Grand Cadaver and Cemetery Skyline) on vocals. It is pretty much a dream line up for fans of Gothenburg melodic death metal. Their debut album “Days Of The Lost” was an incredible release which paid tribute to the golden era of Swedish melodic death metal but also showed that the genre was far from stale with a fantastic contemporary sound.
The band do pick up where they left off with “Days Of The Lost” with a nice mixture of sounds throughout the twelve songs which make up the new album. You get the classic Gothenburg melodeath sound on songs such as ‘Detonate’, ‘A Death That Becomes Us’ and the title track and a darker and more melancholic feel on songs such as ‘Cruel Perception’ and ‘Forever Astray’ which features some excellent clean singing from Mikael. The band also try something different with a more progressive and symphonic sound on ‘Between Directions’ which features some truly heartfelt vocals from Mikael. There are also a couple of excellent instrumental pieces with ‘The Curse Of Silence’ being chock full of those classic In Flames style melodies and album closer ‘Coda’ which harks back to the acoustic pieces that In Flames used to do in their early days but with added symphonic elements. There are also some moments which incorporate electronica much in the same way that Dark Tranquillity with keyboard sounds heard in songs such as ‘Conspire To Deceive’ and ‘What We Become’.
With all the experience between them as musicians, you know the level of musicianship is going to be nothing less than exemplary with the guitar work from Jesper and Niclas being a particular highlight with a nice mix of killer riffs, luscious melodies and awesome solos. Mikael Stanne is easily one of the finest vocalists in metal and his performance here really backs up that statement. His harsh vocal style is excellent with fantastic clarity amongst the aggressive vocals but his clean vocals seem to just get better and better as time goes on. Peter and Daniel also prove that they remain a fearsome rhythm section and are the backbone of the band.
Much like the debut album from the band, “March Of The Unheard” is a killer piece of melodic death metal. It manages to sound contemporary whilst also having that killer old school Gothenburg melodeath sound. If you enjoyed the debut, then this album will have much the same effect for you. Killer songs written by veterans of the Swedish metal scene.
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