THE HALO EFFECT's PETER IWERS: 'There's No Rivalry' With IN FLAMES

In a new interview with Belgian Jasper, THE HALO EFFECT bassist Peter Iwers was asked if he and his 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 — Iwers, Jesper Strömblad (guitar),Daniel Svensson (drums),Niclas Engelin (guitar) and Mikael Stanne (vocals). He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "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."

"March Of The Unheard" will arrive on January 10 via Nuclear Blast Records.

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.

"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)