Band:	The Halo Effect
Album:	Days Of The Lost
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	August 2022

01. Shadowminds
02. Days Of The Lost
03. The Needless End
04. Conditional
05. In Broken Trust [feat. Jonas Slättung]
06. Gateways
07. A Truth Worth Lying For
08. Feel What I Believe
09. Last Of Our Kind [feat. Matt Heafy, Erika Risinger and Johannes Bergion]
10. The Most Alone
11. The Path Of Fierce Resistance [Japanese bonus]

The very first sounds of the debut from Swedes The Halo Effect assured me that this is a project that will not disappoint me for sure. Drawing on the best models in the form of the musicians' main bands (In Flames, Dark Tranquility), an album was recorded that is almost painfully classic in its style.

Describing Days Of The Lost, it's hard not to avoid comparisons to the above-mentioned bands. The echoes of In Flames and Dark Tranquillity are felt both in the sound and structures of individual recordings, and the weight-to-melody ratio of each composition. And it could be another release from any of the bands (of course we're talking about the classic In Flames up to Clayman, as since 2000 they focused too much on experimenting). The Halo Effect, however, has one detail that significantly affects the reception of the album. It is also an element that I have not felt for a long time on In Flames albums, and to a very small extent on Dark Tranquility recordings. This element is the joy of playing. Fun that just spills out of Days Of The Lost. No track sounds forced, while Stanne's voice sounds fresh, strong, each line blowing out as if it were a kind of manifesto of returning to the roots. I'm also happy that Jesper Strömblad has come back to writing and playing songs, who, after dealing with an alcohol problem, wrote some of his best melodies in a very long time.

The album definitely has no weak points, but the hit title number (to which an equally great video was shot), and "A Truth Worth Lying For", full of great guitar melodies that are supported by the best lyrical layer in my opinion, deserve a special mention.

The Halo Effect recorded a debut, to a level that will be quite difficult for them to match on subsequent releases. Not because of the compositions, although these are very good. The problem is too much resemblance to In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, so while the first album of the formation can be treated as a curiosity and the opportunity to experience in 2022 this bit of magic from the beginning of In Flames (due to the return of Jesper, Iwers and Stanne to play together), next albums can be perceived more as a copy of the above-mentioned bands and seen through the prism of the musicians' past achievements.