Five Former Members Of In Flames Unite In The Halo Effect

[drawntoblack]

I want to let the album breathe for a few days before I write down a track by track impression but some quick notes:

-I don't mind the clean vocals at all on the finished product, they sounded pretty weak and out of place on those live videos on youtube but here everything fits well to my ears, both in terms of ideas and sonically
-Gateways is possibly the best song on the album for me so far, it sounds like something off DT's Construct album
- Rhythm guitars should be just a tad bit louder on the entire album
-Everything sounds suprisingly dull on my nice studio headphones and a lot more energetic on cheap phone earbuds, album was definitely mixed/mastered in favor of mobile devices but that's not necessarily a bad thing
-The only part on the entire album that grates my ears is the melody that starts playing over Conditional's intro, Conditional is also one of the strongest songs on the record
-Last of Our Kind feels disappointing to me because it was said in one of the interviews that it was an At The Gates tribute track almost in terms of riffs and that they added violins because of that exact reason since ATG did it back in the day too but I'm not hearing much of it

My expectations weren't too high but it's honestly such a solid album. Nothing exactly new or suprising but I'm suprised by the variety of moods. I'm also not going to overly nitpick because the band stresses that they wrote the album fairly impulsively without too much second-guessing or trial and error. There is not a lot of filler here.

Hopefully this album makes those of you who arent too acquainted with Dark Tranquillity's discography deep dive into that band as well.

 

[eochaid]

I don't care about critics. Music critics, as well as movie critics, don't know shit about music (or movies). So, they write from their own perspective as fans. I've never read a music critic talking about the technical things in a song (writing, tempo, scale, harmonies or whatever crosses your minds). So, just fuck them.

 

[DE4life]

I wouldn't say Last of Our Kind reminds me of ATG either. The beginning reminds me more of a movie soundtrack, and the song itself... well, no specific band really comes to mind, but certainly not ATG.

 

[eochaid]

-Everything sounds suprisingly dull on my nice studio headphones and a lot more energetic on cheap phone earbuds, album was definitely mixed/mastered in favor of mobile devices but that's not necessarily a bad thing

It sounds perfect in my computer (with good headphones) and my Hi-Fi. It sounds far worse with my earphones. And they are pretty good.

 

[Xpyro125]

Honestly, I absolutely didn’t get anything AtG from “Last of Our Kind”. It would’ve never even crossed my mind had it not been said here.

I also forgot to mention earlier that the guitar parts of the solo in “Gateways” are reminiscent of “Closure” by Cyhra. Absolutely love that detail, and it’s so easily missable too. While the OFTW melody in “A Truth Worth Lying For” was really easy to discern, the “Closure” melody in “Gateways” isn’t nearly as close to the original. It adds a nice little bit of continuity to Jesper’s other bands that I really like. Admittedly, I haven’t caught any Dimension Zero stuff yet, and I’ve never listened to The Resistance, so I haven’t caught anything there either, but it’d be really cool to hear little nods to those bands as well.

 

[Xpyro125]

And I still haven’t gotten to listen to the official release of the album yet. I’m kind of surprised that they haven’t quite put it out in the US yet, but that’s alright.

 

[shad0w__]

Album is a 8/10 for me after a couple of listens.

10/10 songs are Feel what I believe, Gateways. Last of our Kind and Days of the Lost are a 9/10. The rest are 7-8/10.

What holds me back in most tracks is Stanne's vocals, i just find them a bit too flat. With someone more versatile on the vocals, album could easily be a 9.5-10/10.

However overall its a great debut album.

 

[Xpyro125]

Album is a 8/10 for me after a couple of listens.

10/10 songs are Feel what I believe, Gateways. Last of our Kind and Days of the Lost are a 9/10. The rest are 7-8/10.

What holds me back in most tracks is Stanne's vocals, i just find them a bit too flat. With someone more versatile on the vocals, album could easily be a 9.5-10/10.

However overall its a great debut album.

I feel like he did a better job with the harsh vocals than I expected– I dunno, I just expected a standard performance, rather than something actually harsh or powerful, given modern DT’s track record. I haven’t listened to his other band, so I can’t make any comparisons there.

I think I realized my issue with “In Broken Trust”‘a chorus: The clean vocals are lacking in any sort of fullness (Along with the enunciation on “fallen angels”), which the Sweden Rock Festival backing tracks remedied perfectly. The backing synths in the studio version do nothing to alleviate that issue, and it makes for a far flatter performance than there should be on the track.

He has some occasional moments where he’s just alright (Like in “Shadowminds”), but it feels fitting with the rest of the tracks he’s only doing alright in. That being said, yeah, there are definitely more powerful vocalists out there, and even something like CC Anders was up there (In my opinion), so it’s understandable. I dunno, I feel like he fit most of the tracks pretty well.

“In Broken Trust” is the main letdown for me, I guess. I still can’t believe that my favorite going into the album just didn’t end up being like the version I absolutely loved. It deserves such a magical-feeling soaring chorus that just isn’t there, and I hate that. It’s still a great song, but fuck, man. That’s just disappointing.

 

[shad0w__]

I feel like he did a better job with the harsh vocals than I expected– I dunno, I just expected a standard performance, rather than something actually harsh or powerful, given modern DT’s track record. I haven’t listened to his other band, so I can’t make any comparisons there.

I think I realized my issue with “In Broken Trust”‘a chorus: The clean vocals are lacking in any sort of fullness (Along with the enunciation on “fallen angels”), which the Sweden Rock Festival backing tracks remedied perfectly. The backing synths in the studio version do nothing to alleviate that issue, and it makes for a far flatter performance than there should be on the track.

He has some occasional moments where he’s just alright (Like in “Shadowminds”), but it feels fitting with the rest of the tracks he’s only doing alright in. That being said, yeah, there are definitely more powerful vocalists out there, and even something like CC Anders was up there (In my opinion), so it’s understandable. I dunno, I feel like he fit most of the tracks pretty well.

“In Broken Trust” is the main letdown for me, I guess. I still can’t believe that my favorite going into the album just didn’t end up being like the version I absolutely loved. It deserves such a magical-feeling soaring chorus that just isn’t there, and I hate that. It’s still a great song, but fuck, man. That’s just disappointing.

In Broken Trust is their next single by the way. Video drops in a few hours. Agree completely, that IBT is let down by the clean vocals, its for me the weakest song on the album.

 

[Xpyro125]

In Broken Trust is their next single by the way. Video drops in a few hours. Agree completely, that IBT is let down by the clean vocals, its for me the weakest song on the album.

Seeing that it doesn’t have the power I expected it to have, I genuinely have no idea why it’s the next single. If they fixed the chorus, sure, it’d be an easy 10/10, but I think it’s far too late in the process for that. I think “The Most Alone” is my least favorite track on the album, but I absolutely can see the case for “In Broken Trust” being the weakest.

Man, if I hadn’t listened to the leak, I would’ve been so excited for it too. I don’t blame that on the leak, I blame it on the vocals just not delivering there.

 

[DE4life]

I really like Stanne on this album. For me it's his strongest vocal performance since Fiction in the harsh vocals department. His cleans aren't bad at all either, I just think they could have done with some extra attention.

 

[Pallbearer]

Haven't listened to the leak as I'm waiting for my physical copy to arrive, but I've got to say I'm not any longer that disappointed about the In Flames dictators' decision to exclude Engelin from the creative process after Battles. I'll rather have him using his ideas in THE.

 

[Blast_The_Virginborn]

Haven't been here for a while. Just feel the need to say how freaking awesome this album is!!!
From top to bottom hit after hit. Conditional hits so hard all the right spots, Gateways is such a cool tune with tasty dark touch and Truth worthy lying for just brings smile to my face!
People say In Flames bros couldn't be affected by THE cause they already recorded new album before THE appeared?
Well, I think some of their hometown mutual friends or label crew whispered them long time ago that something serious is coming up their way
Either way, these 2 songs do absolutely nothing for me... generic, boring and forgettable, unlike THE!
Btw, there is bonus track for Japan called The path of fierce resistance, so if anyone stumbles upon it, please be kind and share it here, tnx!

 

[eochaid]

I've never been a fan of Stanne and I really like what he does here. Even the cleans.

I'm accustomed to hear, in the choruses, clean vocals with backing voices. It's like... A non written rule. So, I was surprised to not hear them. And, though they could have added something, I like the final result and, after a few listens to the album (10) I don't miss them anymore.

 

[The Grayfox]

After spending a little bit more time with it, here are my thoughts:

It is not a perfect album for me. But it is very, very good. I have only few slight complaints, but nothing that breaks the album whatsoever. First of all, Gateways and Conditional are the standouts in my opinion. I really, really like both of those songs. A lot. The clean vocals just don't do anything for me, as I said before. I think they would've been better off leaving those out. They feel out of place and ruin the flow of In Broken Trust and A Truth Worth Lying For. My only other complaint is Matt Heafy's vocal spot. It just seems unnecessary and again, feels like it doesn't fit. I don't mind Heafy's vocals in general, I just don't like him on Last of Our Kind. He probably could've fit better on a different track. Hell, maybe even doing the cleans on one of those songs if they insisted on having cleans.

All of that being said, this is a phenomenal album. I hate doing the comparisons, but I really do feel like this is the kind of album I would've loved to have seen come after Clayman. Days of the Lost makes me feel very nostalgic, which is such a magical thing.

9.5/10 for me, fellas.

 

[mindd]

Just ordered the nice box set with the vinyl, CD and the documentary on blu-ray. Can't wait for it to arrive, even though I've already listened to the whole album multiple times

 

[eochaid]

This feels like the old times, where I could download the full albums two weeks before they were released but still couldn't stop my excitement until I had the real thing on my hands.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Very solid album. The songs where they focus more on atmosphere rather than breaking out the 90's leads were the ones I liked the most (Gateways, In Broken Trust, etc). Highlights for me were The Needless End, Conditional, In Broken Trust, Gateways, and The Most Alone.

Shadowminds and Feel What I Believe are really the only weak points for me, but by no means are they bad. Just kind of boring to me.

I thought Stanne's clean vocals worked very well.

The Last of Our Kind was very At the Gates to me. At first I thought I was hearing Lindberg when Heafy came in toward the end.

 

[DE4life]

Excellent

 

[eochaid]

How much is the price in the UK?

There's a 24bit version of the album. And I'm mad that it's nowhere to be sold.