NUCLEAR BLAST
THE HALO EFFECT might be a new name, but its members certainly shouldn’t be. Mikael Stanne, Niclas Engelin, Jesper Strömblad, Peter Iwers and Daniel Svensson are veterans of Sweden’s legendary Gothenburg sound, the regional scene that was working on bringing enormodome sensibilities back to the metal underground while Florida was scaring the moral masses with indecipherable grunts and gore-splattered lyrics. Inspiring everyone from Killswitch Engage and Avenged Sevenfold to Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine, the Gothenburg sound set the template for venue-filling melodeath as we know it in 2022: soaring guitar leads, larynxshredding howls, and choruses that reach down your throat to go straight for the vocal cords.
So, the good news: is that. While the Gothenburg scene’s successes have seen peaks and troughs over time, Thedoesn’t sound dated – if anything, the album is a marvellous display of the same elements that have seen everyone from Arch Enemy to Amon Amarth conquer massive crowds over the past 20 years. is just as colossal and instantly gratifying as the last. The title track, and
