Five Former Members Of In Flames Unite In The Halo Effect

[DE4life]

Let's say that, up till Clayman, I don't listen to the album's because of Anders.

It's not as if he's been the shinning or influential part of the band. Ever.

The only album where Anders detracts until 2014, for me is ASOP. He literally ruins that album for me, alongside the shitty production. Personally he's definitely a big part of why I enjoy a lot of the albums until 2011, excluding ASOP. When he could be bothered he wrote really good lyrics, has a unique screaming style which worked really well with the music and had moments where the ProTools worked well with his voice (his cleans on Come Clarity in particuar sound good for the most part). I appreciate him a lot during the pre-2008 period. The guitar work is still the main reason most of us listen to old IF, but Anders played his part in adding positively to the sound.

After SOAPF, though... fucking disaster. Awful on SC. Awful on Battles. Tolerable on ITM. Lyrics in the toilet, cleans somehow getting worse with experience, screams/growls getting weaker and poorer with each release. Again, ITM was a bit of an improvement, but still way too many cleans and Autotune machine BS.

 

[galvanized]

Let's say that, up till Clayman, I don't listen to the album's because of Anders.

It's not as if he's been the shinning or influential part of the band. Ever.

But he’s so hot. The hottest band member. That’s why.

 

[eochaid]

The only album where Anders detracts until 2014, for me is ASOP. He literally ruins that album for me, alongside the shitty production.

That's why I mentioned Clayman. In the first 4 albums he's mostly like any other melodeath singer. What was shinning in those albums was the guitar work. That's what was giving them their personality. Then, he hired a producer to create better melodies for him and it worked until he convinced himself that he was a real singer.

But he’s so hot. The hottest band member. That’s why.

He's brighter than a thousand suns.

While Jesper and Bjorn have been influential to the music, Anders has not. Period. That's a fact.



I never grow tired of listening to this.

 

[DE4life]

That's why I mentioned Clayman. In the first 4 albums he's mostly like any other melodeath singer. What was shinning in those albums was the guitar work. That's what was giving them their personality. Then, he hired a producer to create better melodies for him and it worked until he convinced himself that he was a real singer.

I'd agree for TJR/Whoracle, but I can't think of many MDM vocalists who sound like Anders did on Colony or Clayman. On Colony especially I think he really shines. On Clayman his voice sounds pretty worn and fragile, but weirdly it works perfectly with the music. Again I honestly can't think of another vocalist who sounds like he did on that album. The guitars are undoubtedly the driving force of the first four albums, but does Colony or Clayman sound as good with Stanne, Speed, Angela Gossow or any of the other prominent MDM vocalists of the time in Anders' place? Not for me. I rip on him a lot these days but on a personal level he was a big reason why I loved and still love those albums, so I gotta give him credit for those.

Certainly post-2000 the focus shifted from guitar to vocals and that marked a decline in quality compared to the previous albums. Even though I like Reroute, STYE, CC and SOAPF they are some way below the TJR - Clayman era. Pushing the strongest part of the band into the background, the guitars, did not help. The ideal would have been to have the stellar guitar work continue, with Anders' vocal work also improving in tandem with the guitars. I don't think Anders is to blame for that though. It's well known Bjorn and Jesper were bored of the dual guitar stuff by Clayman and were probably perfectly happy to sit back and let Anders take a leading role.

 

[eochaid]

While I think that his work, in Colony, sometimes pushes the songs back. Makes them a bit worse. Still, in Colony and Clayman, with some exceptions, the guitars are still the main focus and Anders kept on being as influential as before. And that means that he has had no impact in the following generations of melodeath musicians.

As for what they wanted to do... I'm not sure. As soon as they started to produce the music, CC and ASOP, the guitar melodies and riffs came back. So, I am not sure that they wanted to step back. Maybe they wanted to try a different approach. But, in the end, they went back to what they did better.

 

[DE4life]

Which songs on Colony do you think Anders makes worse? Honestly it's probably the album where I think he's at his peak. He even sounds great on live performances from around that period.

 

[eochaid]

Resin. Insipid 2000. The new word. He wasn't really inspired when creating those melodies.

Thinking about Clayman. Even a song like OFTW, it's the intro Melodie and the solo what gets stuck in my head and it's the instrumental work what makes my head shake.

About Colony, even if you like his vocal work, he's still not really different from any other melodeath singer. It's in Clayman, with his new scream, that he has his own trademark. And that lasted for four albums until his voice was ruined.

In fact, the first album where he really shines must be R2R. Maybe not his voice, but there's a change in the way that he approaches the vocal melodies and the lyrics. Yes, thanks to other people, but that doesn't change this fact.

 

[CladInShadows971]

I'm not really getting a DT vibe from the guitars in that clip. DT guitars tend to sound more.. mechanical if that makes any sense. Like they're playing patterns rather than melodies.

Anyway, hoping there are some harmonised melodies somewhere in the song.

 

[DE4life]

Resin. Insipid 2000. The new word. He wasn't really inspired when creating those melodies.

Thinking about Clayman. Even a song like OFTW, it's the intro Melodie and the solo what gets stuck in my head and it's the instrumental work what makes my head shake.

About Colony, even if you like his vocal work, he's still not really different from any other melodeath singer. It's in Clayman, with his new scream, that he has his own trademark. And that lasted for four albums until his voice was ruined.

In fact, the first album where he really shines must be R2R. Maybe not his voice, but there's a change in the way that he approaches the vocal melodies and the lyrics. Yes, thanks to other people, but that doesn't change this fact.

Resin and New Word especially are two of the blander songs on Colony anyway, though. They aren't particularly inspired instrumentally either. I love Insipid 2000 though, including Anders vocals on it, so completely disagree on that one.

The thing is, even if there are other MDM vocalists out there who sound like Anders does on Colony, it doesn't count as a mark against his performance on the album. From my perspective I don't care if Anders' vocal style on Colony is totally unique or replicated by a hundred other vocalists, it still sounds great to me. In terms of his contribution to that album, do you think he could have something significantly different or better to improve the album as a whole? For me he was pretty much spot on vocally. I wouldn't have wanted him to sound like he did on Clayman for Colony, as I don't think it would have worked anywhere near as well. That's just me, though. Obviously we have different opinions on it, but considering there are albums where Anders legiitimately did fuck everything up (ASOP & SC especially) it doesn't even seem worth going back to the classic albums where he was clearly secondary to the guitar work.

I'm not sure if he really shines on Reroute... I mean, it depends on your definition. I don't think he sounds better than he did before. Screams/growls are muffled in the mix and fairly weak, whilst his cleans are... earnest at best. He's spotlighted on Reroute more than the previous albums before, but to say he shines on it... eh, maybe we're just thinking about it with different definitions.

 

[eochaid]

The thing is, even if there are other MDM vocalists out there who sound like Anders does on Colony, it doesn't count as a mark against his performance on the album. From my perspective I don't care if Anders' vocal style on Colony is totally unique or replicated by a hundred other vocalists, it still sounds great to me. In terms of his contribution to that album, do you think he could have something significantly different or better to improve the album as a whole? For me he was pretty much spot on vocally. I wouldn't have wanted him to sound like he did on Clayman for Colony, as I don't think it would have worked anywhere near as well. That's just me, though. Obviously we have different opinions on it, but considering there are albums where Anders legiitimately did fuck everything up (ASOP & SC especially) it doesn't even seem worth going back to the classic albums where he was clearly secondary to the guitar work.

Well. That's basically my point. Even Colony is a guitar album. Anders Could have done a bit better, in my opinion, in those songs, but he does his job in the rest of them. It's not an album for a singer to shine and is mainly the instrumental work what makes the album interesting because it's good but also different from what other musicians would have done. Does it make sense?

I'm not sure if he really shines on Reroute... I mean, it depends on your definition. I don't think he sounds better than he did before. Screams/growls are muffled in the mix and fairly weak, whilst his cleans are... earnest at best. He's spotlighted on Reroute more than the previous albums before, but to say he shines on it... eh, maybe we're just thinking about it with different definitions.

Maybe his voice is not at his best, but his vocal melodies, lines, the different tempos that he's using, make this, again, in my opinion, his best album so far. Even if his voice is not as good as in the next albums, here him and his team reached the peak of their inspiration.

 

[DE4life]

Well. That's basically my point. Even Colony is a guitar album. Anders Could have done a bit better, in my opinion, in those songs, but he does his job in the rest of them. It's not an album for a singer to shine and is mainly the instrumental work what makes the album interesting because it's good but also different from what other musicians would have done. Does it make sense?

Sure, I think most people would agree the guitars are the focal point of the first four albums. Anders contributes as much as he's able to in the role he's given.

Maybe his voice is not at his best, but his vocal melodies, lines, the different tempos that he's using, make this, again, in my opinion, his best album so far. Even if his voice is not as good as in the next albums, here him and his team reached the peak of their inspiration.

I think he was inspired to try a lot of new stuff on Reroute, being given some creative freedom to bring the vocals to the forefront. On a personal level I still find his vocals on Colony and Clayman better to listen to, but you could certainly argue Reroute was his most interesting album vocally. It's kind of sad that he went from the cleans on that album - which were somewhat endearing even if not technically very good - to the autotuned, ProTooled mess of the past few albums.

 

[A88]

I'm not really getting a DT vibe from the guitars in that clip. DT guitars tend to sound more.. mechanical if that makes any sense. Like they're playing patterns rather than melodies.

Anyway, hoping there are some harmonised melodies somewhere in the song.

I'm getting strong DT vibes from guitars in those two clips. You could mistake it for a song from the last album even.

 

[galvanized]

Anders reached peak on Whoracle and Colony

listen to Worlds Within the Margin with some volume



totally vicious

To say that Anders got more interesting on RTR and after is a testament to how boring the guitar on post-Clayman records is. Not a testament to how good Anders is or became.

 

[DE4life]

Anders reached peak on Whoracle and Colony

listen to Worlds Within the Margin with some volume



totally vicious

To say that Anders got more interesting on RTR and after is a testament to how boring the guitar on post-Clayman records is. Not a testament to how good Anders is or became.

I agree. Whoracle is a solid improvement for Anders compared to TJR, and by Colony it feels like he's found his own style that makes him stand out compared to other vocalists in the genre. The closest comparison I can really think of in terms of the more popular bands is Tomas Lindberg with ATG, but even then his vocals are more of a shriek whereas Anders is a defined scream. You can instantly recognise Anders on Colony, you wouldn't mistake him for any other vocalist from around the same time period.

The frustrating thing with Reroute is that the guitar work is good on the album. Not 1996-2000 levels but there are still some incredible melodies scattered all across the album. They just fail to stand out or impose themselves because the mix seems to do everything it can to weaken the impact of the guitars. I've always said the big difference during that period for the band was STYE, not Reroute. Reroute is classic IF dialled down and weakened by production. STYE is something totally different instrumentally, with a significant loss of classic melodies and creativity. If there was any album where I'd say guitars take a full back seat to the vocals (pre-SC) it would be Soundtrack. Anders does a lot of interesting things with his vocals on STYE, Jesper and Bjorn not so much.

 

[eochaid]

To say that Anders got more interesting on RTR and after is a testament to how boring the guitar on post-Clayman records is. Not a testament to how good Anders is or became.

I'm talking about creativity. Even if Anders reached his peak in both albums, thing that can be discussed, he's not really that relevant for the albums. Specially in Colony. Not only his work is ok. His screams don't help to differentiatie him from any other melodeath singer. The first four albums could have been done with a different singer and we would not care or be talking about Anders at this point. What was relevant, in those albums, was the music.

 

[eochaid]

Am I seeing things or do both logos share some similarities?

 

[DE4life]

They definitely do, although it makes more sense in The Halo Effect's case due to the 'O' in the band name. I wonder if it was the same artist?

 

[eochaid]

Most probably. I only noticed this because Cyhra shared the link to the news in the Nuclear Blast site

 

[DE4life]

Interesting. I guess they are OK with what Jesper is doing, then. I mean, I don't think he's toured with them since, like, 2017? It'll be interesting to see if he does any of their future shows. As a supposedly still-active member of Cyhra you'd expect he'd be able to do shows with them if he's willing to commit to a two month tour with The Halo Effect.

More likely Jesper is not a main member of that band anymore, though. A contributor in the studio, maybe, but that's all.

 

[eochaid]

That's hard to tell. Cyhra is a band where their drummer suddenly started being, also, the drummer for a bigger band.

So far, I don't see their members as being fully involved into it.

Still, they're still, obviously, friends.