The Halo Effect is a Swedish

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavine ...

band formed by former members of

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered the genres known as Swedish death metal and melodic death metal. During t ...

. They are signed to the

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

label.

History

The Halo Effect was founded by five former members of the Swedish metal band

Jesper Strömblad Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad (born 28 November 1972) is a Swedish musician who is the guitarist of the bands The Halo Effect, Dimension Zero and Cyhra, and formerly of In Flames and The Resistance. He is best known as the founder and former ...

was a founding member of

in 1990, and in 1993

Mikael Stanne Bengt Mikael Stanne (born 20 May 1974) is a Swedish musician, best known as the vocalist and one of the lyricists (as well as a former rhythm guitarist) for the Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity. Since the departure of origina ...

(who founded the band Dark Tranquility and remains its sole founding member today) worked as a session vocalist on In Flames' demo tape and debut album.

Niclas Engelin Niclas Engelin (born 27 December 1972) is a Swedish heavy metal guitarist for Drömriket, Passenger, Engel and The Halo Effect. He previously was the lead guitarist for and Gardenian and the rhythm guitarist for In Flames and has been in an ...

and

Peter Iwers Peter Iwers (born on 15 May 1975) is a Swedish musician and the current bass player of The Halo Effect. He was a member of Swedish heavy metal band In Flames from their 1999 album ''Colony'', up until their 2016 album ''Battles'', originally ...

joined In Flames in 1997, and

Daniel Svensson Daniel Svensson (born 20 November 1977) is a Swedish drummer. He is currently a member of the Swedish supergroup The Halo Effect (2021–) and formerly a drummer of the metal bands In Flames, Sacrilege GBG (also the vocalist) and Diabolique. ...

joined In Flames in 1998 after Niclas Engelin quit. Subsequently, Strömblad, Iwers, and Svensson played together in In Flames for over 10 years by the time Strömblad quit that band in 2010. The Halo Effect coalesced in 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and according to press releases, the motivating idea behind the band was to return to the roots of the 1990s "Gothenburg sound" that pioneered the melodic death metal genre. According to an interview on

Robb Flynn Robert Conrad Flynn (born Lawrence Matthew Cardine; July 19, 1967) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for heavy metal band Machine Head. Flynn formed the band along with Adam Duce, Logan Mader and Tony Cos ...

's ''No F'n Regrets'' podcast, the band's name comes from the song off Rush's album ''

Clockwork Angels ''Clockwork Angels'' is the nineteenth and final studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on June 12, 2012, on Roadrunner Records. During the band's year-and-a-half break following its Snakes & Arrows Tour, the group decided to write a ...

''. The band released their debut single, "Shadowminds" on 9 November 2021 ahead of their debut album, ''Days of the Lost'', released on 12 August, 2022. To support the album, the band toured Europe and the UK with Amon Amarth and

Machine Head A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...

in September and October.

Members

Current members *

– lead guitar (2021–present) *

– bass guitar (2021–present) *

– lead vocals (2021–present) *

– rhythm guitar (2021–present) *

– drums (2021–present) Current live members * Patrik Jensen – rhythm guitar (2022–present)

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Days of the Lost'' (2022) – No. 1 Sweden, No. 6 Finland

Singles

* "Shadowminds" (2021) * "Feel What I Believe" (2022) * "Days of the Lost" (2022) * "The Needless End" (2022)

Reference

External links

* Swedish heavy metal musical groups 2021 establishments in Sweden Nuclear Blast artists Swedish melodic death metal musical groups Musical quintets {{Sweden-band-stub