ALBUM REVIEW: Days Of The Lost – The Halo Effect
When your band is comprised of former members of IN FLAMES and the current vocalist of DARK TRANQUILITY, you know you’re on the money when it comes to crafting stellar melodic death metal. In a time where melo death has failed to keep up the pace in the modern extreme metal climate, trust a band like THE HALO EFFECT to provide a debut, in the form of Days Of The Lost, that offers as much as a throwback as it does a reminder to the quality that melodic death metal provides.
Given their background and tenacity for fine-tuned melo death goodness, it comes as no surprise that Days Of The Lost is absolutely ripe with slick riffing, harmonious leads and a Scandinavian bite that has pounded our eardrums for decades. Opener Shadowminds pulls no punches as guitarists Jesper Strömblad and Niclas Engelin dual each other ever so effectively whilst Mikale Stanne commands the front with the utmost ease. Throw in a solo that would sit perfectly on an IN FLAMES record from the 1990s and you have one hell of an introduction.
From there, THE HALO EFFECT continue to rewind the clock to the glory days of melodic death metal. The title track is a nippy little number with thundering percussion and harmonious twin guitar play, The Needless End boasts slick interplay between Stanne‘s vocals and the crooning guitarwork and Conditional could fit right at home on IN FLAMES‘ Colony with a sublime offering from guitarists Strömblad and Engelin.
As Days Of The Lost continues to unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that the quintet have a knack for producing sublime melo death; perfect for those who yearn for the heavyweights to return to their earlier sound. Take In Broken Trust for example. The first glimpse of Stanne‘s cleans on the record, the more subdued track doesn’t feel like a half-stabbed at radio rock stardom, instead, it feels like a mature and brooding track that sits comfortably to ignite the record’s second half.
As the record enters its final foray, THE HALO EFFECT keep the good times rolling with bout after bout of aural goodness. Gateways, although a typical by the numbers track, is effective in its delivery through its subdued nature before a double whammy of A Truth Worth Lying For and Feel What I Believe inject a healthy bout of surging aural adrenaline in the closing stages. Throughout the runtime of Days Of The Lost, THE HALO EFFECT play to their strengths and deliver an abundance of top tier melodic death metal. And when the quality is this tight, there’s little to complain about.
With Days Of The Lost, THE HALO EFFECT have ticked all the boxes to compose a sublime album that sits confidently within the melodic death metal sphere. Encapsulating everything that makes the style so appealing, their debut album appeals to all who have an itch for heavy music that is as heavy as it is melodic alongside providing a nice throwback to those who were present at the sub-genre’s inception. At a time where melo death is struggling to keep pace with the other trendsetters in modern heavy music, trust a band like THE HALO EFFECT to make such an emphatic statement of intent.
Rating: 9/10
Days Of The Lost is set for release on August 12th via Nuclear Blast Records.
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