(Andy Synn gets to grips with the debut album from Melodeath “supergroup” The Halo Effect)
Let’s face it, a lot of people aren’t going to be able to resist pitting the upcoming albums from In Flames and The Halo Effect against one another.
And while that’s understandable to an extent – after all, most (arguably all, if you count Mikael Stanne’s early stint filling in on vocals) of The Halo Effect actually used to be in In Flames – any attempt to position them in direct competition to one another completely misses the point of why this band exists in the first place.
Let’s face it, while the current incarnation of In Flames are essentially a franchise unto themselves – with all the external and internal pressures to produce “hits” which that entails – The Halo Effect is, for all intents and purposes, just five old friends getting together to jam out some tunes that hew a little closer to their roots (though how closely is certainly up for debate).
But while this means that the pressures and expectations surrounding the release of Days of the Lost may not be quite as overbearing, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any expectations riding on it at all… and it’s up to Iwers, Engelin, Svensson, Strömblad, and Stanne to prove that they’ve got more to offer here than just a fleeting hit of feel-good nostalgia.
