You miss the 90s era of Melodic Death Metal? Those days when you first discovered In Flames and Dark Tranquillity (first time in 25 years of doing reviews I have spelled Dark Tranquillity correctly… Somehow I never noticed there are two Ls in their name…lol)? Well, a scant 18 months after their incredible debut, The Halo Effect are back with their sophomore effort and as impressed as I was with their debut, is roughly how much MORE i’m impressed with the follow up. I will be shocked if this doesn’t end up in my end of year list for 2025.
Granted, I’m an easy mark when it comes to anything Michael Stanne is involved with and even more so after meeting him at a Dark Tranquillity show last year (hell of a nice guy). Add to this Niclas Engelin (guitars), Peter Iwers (bass), Daniel Svennson (drums) and Jesper Stromblad (guitars) which are all former members of In Flames and many other bands, and you have an incredible amount of talent all over this album, so it isn’t to much of a surprise at just how damn good this album is.
So lets get into it. The first thing you really feel when this album kicks off with album opener “Conspire to Deceive” is this sense of nostalgia of the first time you heard Swedish Melodeath and what it could do. Catchy Death Metal??? You’re damn right! Riffs for days with an insanely catchy guitar melody over the top and Michael Stanne’s vocals bringing everything together and next thing you know you just have a huge smile on your face as you play the air drums and your head threatens to snap off your neck and you just think to yourself, FUCK!!! I LOVE METAL!!!! “Detonate” follows that up with an even MORE catchy track and you are already reserving a spot for this album on your end of year list. Im not going to go track by track, but just be aware this album never lets up outside of the last track “Coda” which is an instrumental and seems a bit out of place here, but it almost feels like its here for you to catch your breath. Personally, I wouid have left it off, but that’s probably exactly why I work in a factory rather than writing music…lol
Pitch perfect production throughout is also a key factor here. Every instrument has its space and ability to shine with feeling as well as technical proficiency which has always been a hallmark of the Swedish Melodeath genre. This is also not simply a nostalgia trip either. Don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely a love letter to those days in the late 90s, but with plenty of modern touches and sensibilities that will appeal to the fans that remember those days fondly as well as people that might just be getting into this genre. This will be one of those albums you can point to for someone that is averse to the harsh vocal style but is willing to give it a shot. This could EASILY be a gateway album for the genre. The world of heavy music truly opens up dramatically once you can get past the aversion some people have to the harsh vocal style.
We were raving last year here at the site as well as MULTIPLE times on the podcast at just how incredible 2024 was. Probably the best year for heavy music since 1986 and I would even contend it was the best year EVER considering all the incredible albums that were released last year. If the Halo Effect’s album is what we can expect from 2025 going forward it looks like it will be another banner year in 2025 for Metal. I may have mentioned this to people once or twice and even earlier in the review, FUCK!!! I LOVE METAL!!!!!!!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.