THE HALO EFFECT, the 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 released the official music video for the song “What We Become”. The track is taken from THE HALO EFFECT‘s second album, “March Of The Unheard”, which came out today (Friday, January 10) via Nuclear Blast Records.
Stanne comments: “The wait is over! Our second album drops today, and we could not be more proud of this one. The level of confidence, experience and love of the craft is beyond evident in these songs and to finally be able to share it with all you feels amazing. First up though, just to make sure that you get the album on day one, is our brand new video for the song ‘What We Become’! This song is all about how our emotions can break us down and transform our very being through depression, self-doubt and insecurity. The video which we shot in an ice cold barn in the middle of nowhere with director Johan Carlén gives the song the right kind of mystique and sense of being forgotten or silenced. Enjoy!”
“March Of The Unheard” has been made available in the following formats:
– CD Jewel case
– CD Digi, including three bonus tracks, 24-page booklet, UV spot varnish & parchment paper **
– 1 LP Crystal Clear (Retail)
– 1 LP Curacao/Ocean Blue/White Splatter (NB shop)
– 1 LP Curacao (Band shop)
– 1 LP Yellow (Sweden Rock) + 1 Bonus Track *
– 1 LP Light Green (Nordics)
All vinyls come with 24-page booklet, UV spot varnish and parchment paper
“March Of The Unheard” track listing:
01. Conspire To Deceive
02. Detonate
03. Our Channel To The Darkness
04. Cruel Perception
05. What We Become
06. This Curse Of Silence
07. March Of The Unheard
08. Forever Astray
09. Between Directions
10. A Death That Becomes Us
11. The Burning Point
12. Coda
Bonus tracks:
* “Not Yet Broken”
** “Path Of Fierce Resistance”
** “The Defiant One”
** “Become Surrender”
Shortly after “March Of The Unheard”‘s release, THE HALO EFFECT will embark on its first-ever headline tour in Europe. Industrial outfit and labelmates PAIN will be special guest on this tour and to round up this great package, melo-death shooting stars from Finland BLOODRED HOURGLASS will join as a support.
In a recent interview with Belgian Jasper, Iwers was asked if he and his THE HALO EFFECT bandmates were thinking at all, prior to the release of the group’s debut album, 2022’s “Days Of The Lost”, about the reaction from IN FLAMES fans, considering that THE HALO EFFECT features five former members of IN FLAMES. He responded: “Well, we were reminded a lot. ‘Don’t forget that you all played together at one point’ or ‘you played in this band’, and it’s, like, we know, but that’s not why we started THE HALO EFFECT. We started THE HALO EFFECT because we wanted to play together again, and some of us have never played together, and, obviously, this constellation has never played together. I knew there would be a lot of comparisons and there would be talks about rivalry and stuff like that. And if you know me and you know people around me, you know that there’s no such thing as rivalry. I try to get along with everybody, and this is the case with IN FLAMES as well.”
He continued: “There’s no rivalry; there’s no stuff like that. Let’s just like get that out of the way. I still run a restaurant with Björn [Gelotte, IN FLAMES guitarist]. We still talk to each other a bunch of times every week and all that stuff. But with that said, when the album was out and that the feedback was so positive, I guess without thinking about it, without having any expectations, kind of like now [as we prepare for the release of the second THE HALO EFFECT album, ‘March Of The Unheard’] — the music’s done; I’m happy, I’m not nervous. Of course, when the actual response comes, if it’s possible, I will always go, ‘Ah, thank god.’ But at that point, we were just happy because before ‘Days Of The Lost’ was out, we actually had it ready for about two years. We formed the band just before the pandemic hit, and then we were able to sit in the studio and in the rehearsal spaces and all those places to write music and take our sweet time. And then when we were done and we were ready to release it, we had to wait another year and a half or so before the actual plan could be started. And this time around we had songs that were written along the way and we had to schedule the studio time in a little bit more than before and kind of go in and focus more. But there was no stress. There was nothing like that. So I’m very eager to get the music out there. I’m not nervous. There will be some comparisons, of course, to IN FLAMES, as always, but also to the first record, as it should be. I’m just happy to get the music out. I’ve gotta say that.”
“Days Of The Lost” entered the official chart in Sweden in the summer of 2022 at position No. 1. This was believed to be the first time a debut LP from a metal act had ever topped the chart in Sweden in its first week of release. “Days Of The Lost” also landed at No. 6 in Germany.
Asked in a June 2022 interview with Australia’s “Scars And Guitars” podcast if he would agree that “Days Of The Lost” is, in some ways, a “spiritual successor” to “Reroute To Remain”, IN FLAMES‘ sixth album, which came out in 2002, Peter said: “Ooh, interesting. I haven’t really thought about it. When you make music, like we do, you tend not to overthink stuff — you just go in and you write music and kind of know that what comes out will sound a certain way because of the style that we are playing and how we are playing and performing our music. So I haven’t really thought about it, but maybe — maybe. It was definitely nothing intentional. We just went in. We had a bunch of ideas and we came out with a bunch of songs that happen to sound a certain way. But none of us really overthought it and it was never meant to ‘it’s gonna sound like this’ or ‘it’s gonna sound like that.’ We just [went], ‘Let’s write this music and see what happens.’ And because of, like I said, how we’re playing, it will sound a certain way.”
Added Daniel: “A lot of people like to analyze music, and, of course, it sounds Gothenburg metal-ish because we all are from that genre and we are some of the people that kind of created it. So, of course, it will sound Gothenburg metal-ish, IN FLAMES-ish. And then which era, I don’t know. And as Peter said, we don’t really think about how it should sound. This is how we sound today, and with our legacy this is inevitable, that we sound as we do.”
Continued Peter: “Obviously, people like to do a lot of comparing between us… It’s a difficult topic to discuss because none of us have — even though we’ve all been in IN FLAMES at some point, none of us have really thought about this as what you’re saying. But then a lot of people that we speak to say it. So it’s a little hard to take in, as we’ve been very thorough in just writing music. But I’d say it’s a little flattering to hear it.”
Photo credit: Linda Florin (courtesy of Nuclear Blast)