The Halo Effect - New Album 2023/2024

[DE4life]

THE HALO EFFECT Completes Mixing Second Album

THE HALO EFFECT, the new project featuring five former members of the Swedish metal band IN FLAMES — Jesper Strömblad (guitar),Daniel Svensson (drums),Peter Iwers (bass),Niclas Engelin (guitar) and Mikael Stanne (vocals) — has completed mixing its sophomore album. On Friday (June 30),THE HALO EF...

blabbermouth.net

THE's new album is wrapped, we now just await a release date.

Produced by Jens Bogren as Fascination Street Studios - the same studio that produced Days of the Lost. Other bands who have recently had albums produced here include Enslaved, Powerwolf, Omnium Gatherum, Katatonia, Amon Amarth, Septicflesh, Amorphis, Carcass and Swallow the Sun.

Two tracks have already been played live - Become Surrender and The Defiant One.

THE's Graspop 2023 performance below, including Become Surrender (19:28).



Live performance of The Defiant One:

 

[DE4life]

Two things to note from that Graspop video:

Firstly, I'm not really sure what to make of Become Surrender. It's the best quality I've heard it in so far. I like some of the riffs, but the chorus sounds.... really poppy, and the song reminds me of In Broken Trust in a lot of ways. I'm not sure about it.

Secondly, Mikael confirms that Conditional was written by Jesper. Originally I thought it was just Last of Our Kind, but it doesn't surprise me that the best song on the album was penned by Jesper too.

 

[eochaid]

Mikael confirms that Conditional was written by Jesper

No wonder that it sounds a lot like IF.

 

[DE4life]

The intro is pure IF Jesper, the rest is what In Flames could/should have been after Come Clarity.

 

[The Grayfox]

It’s no secret that I wasn’t a big fan of the cleans on DotL. The ones here in Become Surrender don’t bother me nearly as much. It feels like they go with the music a lot better.

Normally I would be excited that the album is done being mixed, but last time it took like 9 months to release a finished album. I’m not sure why this is becoming a ‘thing’, but a lot of bands are delaying the release for a really long time or just not making records at all and opting to release singles and EPs.

 

[Xpyro125]

Two things to note from that Graspop video:

Firstly, I'm not really sure what to make of Become Surrender. It's the best quality I've heard it in so far. I like some of the riffs, but the chorus sounds.... really poppy, and the song reminds me of In Broken Trust in a lot of ways. I'm not sure about it.

Secondly, Mikael confirms that Conditional was written by Jesper. Originally I thought it was just Last of Our Kind, but it doesn't surprise me that the best song on the album was penned by Jesper too.

I've fucking loved "Become Surrender" since I first heard it, and that just continues to be the case. There's such a dance-y feel to the chorus, particularly due to the drums, and to finally hear it all in good quality is such a good feeling. Funnily enough though, it makes the mix sound a lot looser, and I hope that isn't the case on the final product. I know this is a bit contentious, but it's become one of my favorite THE songs as time goes on (Not by much, most of them are so fucking close together in quality that there are a lot of differing picks depending on the day). It's also nice to hear something that isn't just 100 BPM again, as this seems to be 106-108(?).

Yeah, they mentioned that right out of the gates on iTunes with its album notes on the store. "Gateways" was the first song written while they were still thinking of doing something a little more progressive. Really sad that they didn't go further in with that mindset, but I'm still glad that "Gateways" made it on the record. "Days of the Lost" and "A Truth Worth Lying For" were also some that Jesper was a part of writing. I'd seriously recommend checking it out, as Mikael gives a ton of insight on each song there.

 

[21-only-son]

Looks like the new album was pushed to early next year. Jesper wrote a lot more stuff this time around.

 

[CladInShadows971]

I hope that means we get a single or two soon

 

[Cronopio]

Stoked for this.

 

[eochaid]

https://blabbermouth.net/news/the-h...m-debut-its-definitely-the-same-type-of-genre

More info about the new album. Basically, it seems like this time the base was a collaborative effort of Niklas and Jesper.

 

[The Grayfox]

THE's Instagram says big news is coming next week. First single maybe? Album reveal + single? Tour announcement? Could be anything really, but if the album is due early next year, the first single would make sense with the way things are done these days.

 

[DE4life]

Considering we heard some months ago from THE guys that the new album was basically done, I hope it'll be an album/single reveal.

 

[The Grayfox]

Unfortunately it looks like the announcement was that THE is opening for Meshuggah on their European tour next year. That's good exposure for them and everything but hardly "big news."

 

[The Grayfox]

Peter says that a new single will be out before the end of the year and another one will follow at the beginning of next year. He also said they're thinking about starting the process for writing new material, which is just kind of crazy.

 

[DE4life]

Seems really slow compared to when they were actually finished with the process. Maybe it's a label thing.

 

[eochaid]

Yep. He said that. They don't have control to when the album is going to be released and they still don't know the dates.

 

[DE4life]

I wouldn't mind so much if they hadn't been teasing things which sounded like album/singles announcements but turned out to be nothing exciting.

 

[galvanized]

He also said they're thinking about starting the process for writing new material, which is just kind of crazy.

Do it.

 

[eochaid]

At last, new single coming.

 

[Xpyro125]

I can’t say I’m terribly interested in the track after hearing it live, but I’m sure the studio version will be a far different experience. In Broken Trust was like that, after all, and the studio version was not nearly as good as the version I first heard live. I think the single will be good, but just good. It’s a bit too similar to THE’s prior stuff for me, and I’m worried that the rest of the next album will fare that way too.