The Halo Effect – ‘March Of The Unheard’

Melodic Death Metal

Nuclear Blast

Release Date – January 10th 2025

Review By Smudge Smith

The Halo Effect return with their second effort having pissed all over the opposition with their debut ‘Days Of The Lost’ in 2022. Although there were high expectations the members themselves who are all Swedish death metal legends were relaxed about the whole thing. They toured the album as support to Amon Amarth and Machine Head and having witnessed them on that tour they were awesome.

A truly melodic guitar line starts ‘Conspire To Deceive’ then they power into the spidery riff and Mikael Stanne brings that gruff vocal all whilst the powerhouse rhythm section of Peter Iwers and Daniel Svensson lock it all together. They rattle along sounding like Maiden at their peak before the sublime lead breaks and twin fills highlight the melody. ‘Detonate’ is heavier and faster with Stanne singing the riff and another thunderous Maiden-esque line that just gets your head nodding. The acoustics come out early on the intro to ‘Our Channel To The Darkness’ but hold on to your hats as they literally explode into the riff. Guitarists Niclas Engelin and Jesper Stromblad don’t take any prisoners. They lure you in with a beautiful acoustic then wrap you up in a feisty riff that doesn’t let go as Stanne growls in your face.

They ease up on the break down but come roaring back then pound you with some proper Viking death metal on ‘Cruel Perception’. That melodic twin guitar line is back on ‘What We Become’ over some military snare from Svensson before they power into another monster melodic death metal banger. ‘This Curse Of Silence’ is the first of two musical interludes that just takes you to some other place else for a couple of minutes before the rattling title track brings you back to the now. The majestic ‘Forever Astray’ brings it all together on a pounding rhythm and another fiery riff then the surprise comes on the chorus as Stanne gives us his fabulous clean voice. If you want to hear more of that voice I can recommend the superb new album from Cemetery Skyline. Back to this though and we get a cello and guitar intro on ‘Between Directions’ which is almost symphonic before they settle down on the verse and again Stanne comes clean on the chorus over some serious strings.

Man, this is powerful stuff and raises the hairs on your arms. ‘A Death That Becomes Us’ has riff very similar to In Flames ‘Liberation’ not surprising as two of the members here played on the track. It’s a great riff incorporated into this superb song. ‘The Burning Point’ is another galloping groove monster all powered along by some heavy hitting from Svensson then we get the second interlude on the acoustic ‘Coda’ so we can catch our breath.

With the legendary talent of the Swedish melodic death metal genre all in one place this should be something special. It’s more than special. Like the first album it’s absolutely essential. This is just what comes naturally to these guys, and you can see why they have influenced so many other bands. I don’t know how they do it but I’m glad they are doing it, and I don’t want them to stop anytime soon. Stunning. Superb. Awesome. Nuff said.

Track List –

1 – Conspire to Deceive

2 – Detonate

3 – Our Channel To The Darkness

4 – Cruel Perception

5 – What We Become

6 – The Curse Of Silence

7 – March Of The Unheard

8 – Forever Astray

9 – Between Directions

10 – A Death Becomes Us

11 – The Burning Point

12 – Coda