“We will remain the last of our kind.“
Whenever a band releases an album that isn’t necessarily pushing either their own or genre boundaries, they walk a fine line; the album will either be regarded as proof of the band’s consistency and they will be applauded for remaining true to their roots, or be ostracized and deemed one-dimensional. On their debut full-length, Days Of The Lost, melodic death metal supergroup The Halo Effect manages to stay on the positive side of this line by playing to their strengths and giving themselves room to explore many ideas within the limits of melodic death metal. Every single member of this ensemble line-up has played an important role in shaping this genre, and they seem to recognise that their collective influence has left them nothing to prove. Instead, Days Of The Lost acts as a statement that each member in this legendary line-up retains the passion that made their past material so influential, and have no intention of losing their place in the extreme metal scene.
The group comes out swinging on opener and lead single “Shadowminds”, an energetic and catchy melodic death metal rager that immediately proves that The Halo Effect mean business and are unwilling to compromise their sound. Guiding the listener through a labyrinth of trudging riffs and triumphant melodies, the track encapsulates everything that made traditional melodic death metal such an important development for the genre. Mixing headbang-inducing riffs with infectious leadwork in a seamless convergence of melody and aggression, and a bit of extra texture from subtle synthesizers for good measure, “Shadowminds” perfectly fulfills its role as not only an introduction to Days Of The Lost, but an introduction for this legendary group.
Following such a strong opener, The Halo Effect uses this immediate momentum to pull the listener through a journey that explores nearly every corner of the traditional melodic death metal sound, while adding flavorful doses of modern flair along the way to prevent the album from sounding outdated or blending in with past releases. While melodic death metal has many charms, its ability to mesh melody with aggression is no doubt the genre’s greatest asset. This becomes a central theme throughout the album, tracks such as “The Needless End”, “Conditional”, and “Feel What I Believe” showcasing barrages of ferocious but catchy melodic death metal riffage counteracted yet also glued together by anthemic and powerful choruses. It is in these more aggressive cuts that the rhythm section shines, comprised of drummer Daniel Svensson and bassist Peter Iwers — both of whom have impressive histories within the genre and with undeniable titans In Flames. In the album’s more visceral moments, Svensson and Iwers give the songs just the right amount of hefty backbone to keep the listener on their toes and headbanging without getting overbearing or distracting.
Just as the aggression makes the rhythm section stand out, it is the more melodic and adventurous tracks that allow the guitarwork and vocals to shine. Tracks such as “In Broken Trust” and “A Truth Worth Lying For” give room for vocalist Mikael Stanne to flex his chops as one of the principal vocalists in the genre, as already proven by his lengthy and continuing catalog with Dark Tranquility. These tracks are particular standouts due to not only their more experimental verses, which allow for more expressive harsh vocal performances, but their less anthemic and more somber choruses providing an opportune time for clean vocals. While Stanne’s clean vocals are not particularly stand-out in of themselves, their placement and use make them a nice change of pace to give more variety to the album. These two tracks also allow guitarists Niclas Engelin and Jesper Strömblad, also of In Flames fame, to flex their versatility. Yet not to the same degree as the two main highlights: “Gateways” and “Last Of Our Kind”.
“Gateways” and “Last Of Our Kind” show Engelin and Strömblad toying with different tones and ideas far more than any other track on the record. The former particularly, as much of its runtime ditches traditional melodic death metal riffing in favor of clean guitar passages which are paired with somber lead melodies. Stanne is also able to use these ideas to his advantage, giving a particularly emotive and theatrical vocal performance which cements the track as a definite high point. The latter, penultimate cut “Last Of Our Kind”, stands out not simply because of its guitarwork alone but how Engelin and Strömblad pair the guitarwork with a wider array of synthesizer tones and even orchestral ideas. Opening with a dramatic orchestral passage, the track immediately distinguishes itself, and the legendary guitar duo is able to capitalize on this dramatic tone by transposing those orchestral melodies as guitar melodies which would become motifs throughout the track. These lend more weight to the riffing of the more traditional cuts, and make the closing moments of the song more fitting and conclusive. The final stages of the song features inarguably some of the most epic leadwork of the album, as well as an increase of atmospheric synthesizer and an extremely effective use of clean vocals. It is a weighty cut that will hopefully be an indicator of what the group has in store for the future. The ideas which make these tracks highlights are not necessarily new to melodic death metal, but in the context of this album are extremely different and show the band’s ability to explore different sides of the genre with overwhelming success.
The album is not without its faults, although these are subtle. Although its tendency to stick to the melodic death metal formula is not necessarily a fault by itself, it does cause some of the tracks to blend together. Additionally, closing track “The Most Alone” lacks the impact it could have; while it in no way lacks the ideas that would typically make up a good closer, featuring a variety of clean guitar passages and melodies, the track itself pales in comparison to the preceding track in execution. However, it is not a bad track by any means, and most of its shortcomings only arise when comparing it to “Last Of Our Kind” and considering it in its capacity as a closer.
While Days Of The Lost in no way reinvents the wheel, it simply does not need to. It succeeds in being an exciting and fun record from an ensemble of genre veterans who clearly have a newfound spark — or never lost their spark in the first place. As the album proves, The Halo Effect is a new vessel for these legends to once again make their mark on a genre that they were instrumental in the creation of. It will be a joy to watch where they go from here with this newfound momentum.
8/10
Days Of The Lost will be released this Friday, August 12th, via Nuclear Blast, and you can preorder it here.