The Halo Effect (SWEDEN)

[Horex]

The Halo Effect - Days Of The Lost (Japan Edition) (2022)













Year : 2022 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Death Metal
Country : Sweden
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 109 mb

Bio:

The Halo Effect is a Swedish melodic death metal band formed by former members of In Flames.They are signed to the Nuclear Blast label.The Halo Effect was founded by five former members of the Swedish metal band In Flames. Jesper Strömblad was a founding member of In Flames in 1990, and in 1993 Mikael Stanne (who founded the band Dark Tranquility and remains its sole founding member today) worked as a session vocalist on In Flames' demo tape and debut album. Niclas Engelin and Peter Iwers joined In Flames in 1997, and Daniel Svensson joined In Flames in 1998 after Niclas Engelin quit. Subsequently, Strömblad, Iwers, and Svensson played together in In Flames for over 10 years by the time Strömblad quit that band in 2010.The Halo Effect coalesced in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and according to press releases, the motivating idea behind the band was to return to the roots of the 1990s "Gothenburg sound" that pioneered the melodic death metal genre.According to an interview on Robb Flynn's No F'n Regrets podcast, the band's name comes from the song off Rush's album Clockwork Angels.The band released their debut single, "Shadowminds" on 9 November 2021 ahead of their debut album, Days of the Lost, released on 12 August, 2022.To support the album, the band will be touring Europe and the UK throughout September and October.

Album:

I immensely liked this especially since the members and ex-members of my favorite bands are in this. The likes of Dark Tranquillity, Gardenian and In Flames shined on here. They really kicked ass in this melodic death metal onslaught but mild, not brutal. I wouldn't call these members here as "has beens" they are top notch musicians. With those bands and the variety in the music (distorted/clean) guitars it's not for really extreme metal it's more of mild as previously stated. They really put together some great melodies with utmost emotion to the likes of that at least. I liked all the songs I thought that they were well thought out songs.I was waiting for this to come out and I wasn't disappointed at all. It's pure emotion in the vocals and guitars that are wholly experimental. The band did really good on here it's melodic death but not at all brutal. It's soft-listening. Kind of like the latest Dark Tranquillity 'Moment'. At least that's how they are on a lot of that release. They seemed to feel that the softer the better. I can understand that it doesn't resonate with every melodic death fan but it sure did with me. Jesper is still making music which is good because without him, In Flames took a turn for the absolute worst. It's good he's here.These guys have produced good music with the guitars, vocals and keys/effects. It may get more negative press because of the tranquil songs wholly emotional but heart-felt. They didn't want something brutal in any aspect and that's apparent. They wanted something filled with diehard melodies and licks. Not a lot of lead guitars on here just harmonies and songs that kind of resemble In Flames-esque especially apparent on the In Flames 'Clayman' LP. That would be where Jesper steps in. But they all sound a mix of all three bands: Dark Tranquillity, Gardenian and In Flames. They just weaved melodic death into it and soared.I realize that a lot of what I've said is that this release is a positive mark in the melodic death community but just remember it's really not heavy or wholly intense. These guys are making music still, yes but there's absolutely no brutality here. They just wanted something that's mild and diverse. So don't be disappointed that it's not heavier than it is the way it's come out. It's just soft and melodic but diverse and peaceful. I liked it immensely. I wasn't disappointed at all. It's something I needed to hear and it's not all about hard stuff all the time.This release will remind you of that.Check it out!

Line-Up:

Mikael Stanne - Vocals (2021-present) - See also: Dark Tranquillity, Grand Cadaver, ex-Septic Broiler, ex-HammerFall, ex-In Flames (live)
Peter Iwers - Bass (2021-present) - See also: Fleetburner, ex-Cyhra, ex-In Flames, ex-Mrs. Hippie (live), ex-Chameleon
Jesper Strömblad - Guitars (2021-present) - See also: Ceremonial Oath, Cyhra, Dimension Zero, ex-Desecrator, ex-HammerFall, ex-In Flames, ex-Nightrage (live), ex-Sinergy, ex-The Resistance, ex-All Ends
Niclas Engelin - Guitars (2021-present) - See also: We Sell the Dead, ex-Gardenian, ex-Idiots Rule, ex-Sarcazm, Drömriket, Engel, ex-In Flames, ex-Passenger
Daniel Svensson - Drums (2021-present) - See also: ex-Sacrilege, ex-In Flames, ex-Diabolique

Tracklist:

01. Shadowminds (3:53)
02. Days Of The Lost (3:37)
03. The Needless End (4:04)
04. Conditional (3:42)
05. In Broken Trust (4:10)
06. Gateways (4:49)
07. A Truth Worth Lying For (4:24)
08. Feel What I Believe (4:00)
09. Last Of Our Kind (4:05)
10. The Most Alone (4:03)
11.The Path Of Fierce Resistance (Japan Bonus Track)




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

The Halo Effect - March Of The Unheard (Limited Edition Digipak) (2025)













Year : 2025 (Limited Edition)
Style : Melodic Death Metal
Country : Sweden
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 133 mb

Bio:

The Halo Effect is a Swedish melodic death metal band formed by former members of In Flames.They are signed to the Nuclear Blast label.The Halo Effect was founded by five former members of the Swedish metal band In Flames. Jesper Strömblad was a founding member of In Flames in 1990, and in 1993 Mikael Stanne (who founded the band Dark Tranquility and remains its sole founding member today) worked as a session vocalist on In Flames' demo tape and debut album. Niclas Engelin and Peter Iwers joined In Flames in 1997, and Daniel Svensson joined In Flames in 1998 after Niclas Engelin quit. Subsequently, Strömblad, Iwers, and Svensson played together in In Flames for over 10 years by the time Strömblad quit that band in 2010.The Halo Effect coalesced in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and according to press releases, the motivating idea behind the band was to return to the roots of the 1990s "Gothenburg sound" that pioneered the melodic death metal genre.According to an interview on Robb Flynn's No F'n Regrets podcast, the band's name comes from the song off Rush's album Clockwork Angels.The band released their debut single, "Shadowminds" on 9 November 2021 ahead of their debut album, Days of the Lost, released on 12 August, 2022.To support the album, the band will be touring Europe and the UK throughout September and October.

Album:

March of the Unheard is the second studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band The Halo Effect, released on 10 January 2025, through Nuclear Blast.The album's first single, "Detonate" was released on 25 September 2024.A music video was released for "What We Become" on the same day as the album's release.I was very skeptical about this "revival" band that tries to "imitate" or expand the old sound of In Flames at first. The 1st single dropped, and I was like, "Fuck me for the things I said; I shall love this band from now on!" And it was no waste of my time. I'm glad that I didn't forget about this band; it would be a big loss."March Of The Unheard" is a great showcase of a band trying to come up with new ideas whilst still sticking to the old "Gothenburg" sound as we knew it years ago. It's so brave and open-minded, as if it wouldn't have a problem showing a middle finger to specifically one era of In Flames, yet they are not so arrogant as to try to reduce it to their level. One part of the band is In Flames, and the other part of the band is Dark Tranquillity. I don’t wonder if people are calling the band names like "Dark Flames" or "In Tranquillity," because while we have some melodic, old-school In Flames riffs and drumming, on the other hand, we have Mikael’s empowering vocals and synthesizers or electronics, which are very common for Dark Tranquillity.Guitar riffs are awesome. We have here the founding member of this band, Niclas Engelin, and the legend named Jesper Stromblad. They're creating more and more close "guitar" relationships between them, and they are not as close-minded as on THE's "Days Of The Lost," but they play everything as safely as they can. The riffs are In Flames-like, melodic, sometimes even progressive, and in some songs the certain parts are very well consistently presented. "Days Of The Lost" had a very progressive direction; however, even though you can feel the progressiveness, there's much less of it than on the debut. I like it; everything is melodic, played as it should be, yet it's very safe and vigilant. Great guitar compositions can be heard in "Cruel Perception" or "Detonate."Mikael Stanne is for me the vocalist of the year, and he should be the one awarded. How can one sing in 4 bands in a row while still remaining as good as he never ever was? I don't know; you tell me! I love his vocals; he always sounds fresh, and with his pretty wide vocal range, he never disappoints fans. Yes, I do agree he doesn’t use as much of his clean vocals as he used to on their debut, but guess what? There's more room for his crazy-good harsh vocals, which means more "old-school" fans of melodic death metal will like this album (hopefully)! Lyrics (composed also by him) are much more leading the Dark Tranquillity, yet after they posted certain videos about the background of the title of the album "March Of The Unheard," I changed my mind a bit about that. I think Jesper was the one who was talking about it, especially about his view on it, and he took an example of him growing up in high school and being bullied because of his "satanic" looks; it is because he was the only metalhead at that time in that school. Lyrics are far more interesting because of this; there are more varieties of them.And finally, we have drums here played by the most unique drummer in melodic death metal—Daniel Svensson. This guy's a beast; I always liked his drumming in IF, yet he does not disappoint in The Halo Effect also; more like, he's just getting better and more consistent. Unfortunately for fans of fast-paced drumming (blast beats, etc.), it can be a bit disappointing, but in the end, it's a "Gothenburg death metal" band, so this should be already known.Many of the haters of this band also do dislike that this is just once again a "sequel" to the "Clayman" release, but that's not particularly true. Yes, some songs lead that way, but on example: "What We Become," which is leading the more "Reroute to Remain"/"Soundtrack To Your Escape" era where there were also electronics and this stuff. We also have certain songs that lead to the older era of In Flames ("The Jester Race," "Whoracle"), but for those who didn’t listen to this release yet, they’re not absent, and reading this review, I won’t spoil more things; experience it on your own!Sadly, we somehow got to the end of this review, and sharing with you a few words on summing up this whole album would be great. If you awaited something more progressive than "Days Of The Lost," then you're wrong. It's less progressive, focuses more on the things it already knows, and also, the album tries (and certainly doesn't fail) and expands the melodic "Gothenburg" sound and shows you newly opened branches of sounds, riffs, and atmospheres. Stanne’s vocals proceed to not fail once again, and harsh vocals are mainly pointed out on this whole album also. Prepare for a variety of Svensson's drum performances, and be sure that this album will, once in a time, be named "the legend." "This is the fire and there is no end, we turn to our anger to burn out the pain"...

Line-Up:

Mikael Stanne - Vocals (2021-present) - See also: Dark Tranquillity, Grand Cadaver, ex-Septic Broiler, ex-HammerFall, ex-In Flames (live)
Jesper Strömblad - Guitars (2021-present) - See also: Ceremonial Oath, Cyhra, Dimension Zero, ex-Desecrator, ex-HammerFall, ex-In Flames, ex-Nightrage (live), ex-Sinergy, ex-The Resistance, ex-All Ends
Niclas Engelin - Guitars (2021-present) - See also: We Sell the Dead, ex-Gardenian, ex-Idiots Rule, ex-Sarcazm, Drömriket, Engel, ex-In Flames, ex-Passenger
Peter Iwers - Bass (2021-present) - See also: Fleetburner, ex-Cyhra, ex-In Flames, ex-Mrs. Hippie (live), ex-Chameleon
Daniel Svensson - Drums (2021-present) - See also: ex-Sacrilege, ex-In Flames, ex-Diabolique

Tracklist:

01. Conspire to Deceive 03:57
02. Detonate 03:58
03. Our Channel to the Darkness 03:28
04. Cruel Perception 04:04
05. What We Become 03:46
06. This Curse of Silence 02:00 instrumental
07. March of the Unheard 02:59
08. Forever Astray 03:40
09. Between Directions 04:28
10. A Death That Becomes Us 04:06
11. The Burning Point 03:47
12. Coda 03:53 instrumental
13. Path of Fierce Resistance 03:39 (Bonus Track)
14. The Defiant One 03:10 (Bonus Track)
15. Become Surrender 03:34 (Bonus Track)




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/