THE HALO EFFECT's Second Album To Arrive In Early 2025

In a new interview with Finland's Chaoszine, THE HALO EFFECT frontman Mikael Stanne spoke about the status of the band's sophomore album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's been done for a while. Yeah, I think that's the hardest part for our labels, in order to squeeze stuff in and have room enough to promote and make sure that everybody knows about it. So, we pushed the release until early next year. But the singles are gonna start coming out after the [new album from Mikael's main band DARK TRANQUILLITY] is out. So that's the idea. But it's really cool. I'm incredibly proud of it. It sounds awesome. Niclas [Engelin, THE HALO EFFECT guitarist] and Jesper [Strömblad, THE HALO EFFECT guitarist] have written some incredible songs that are very — like a different level of confidence, I think. Because the first album, we were just going, 'Yeah, let's see what can happen.' It feels like a more confident band. Everybody knows exactly what to do now, so the album sounds awesome. And it's gonna be cool. Yeah, it's coming out early next year. And then we're gonna tour in Europe as well after that. So busy times ahead, as always. But it's cool. I think it's gonna be announced in the end of September."

Stanne was also asked if Strömblad, who has been battling addiction for more than a decade, will be part of THE HALO EFFECT's lineup when he and his bandmates return to the road or if THE HAUNTED's Patrik Jensen will continue to fill in for him. Mikael said: "Most likely [Jensen will continue to tour with us]. Whenever Jesper wants to, we want him, so we're always ready. If he's up to it, then he will join us. But it's always up to him. And we always said, 'Yeah, we're there. Jensen's always gonna be there. If Jesper wants to play, then we're here.' So that's kind of the deal we made early on."

THE HALO EFFECT's current lineup is rounded out by Daniel Svensson (drums) and Peter Iwers (bass). Niclas Engelin (guitar) and Mikael Stanne (vocals)

This past May, THE HALO EFFECT announced its first headlining tour of Europe for early 2025. Fans can expect a packed set with fan favorites from THE HALO EFFECT's debut album, "Days Of The Lost", which came out in 2022, and also some new tunes from the band's upcoming sophomore effort. Special guest on this tour will be industrial outfit PAIN, as well as Finnish melo-death shooting stars BLOODRED HOURGLASS.

Asked in an interview with A Swedish Fika With about the musical direction of the new THE HALO EFFECT songs, Peter said: "I think it's definitely the same type of music, but as an artist, you don't obviously wanna repeat yourself. But I guess what we did on the first one, we just went in and we took the ideas and what was written and made it into songs. And without thinking of, 'This is gonna sound like this or that.' And now with the second album, we know how it's gonna sound. But I guess we kept on still doing it the same way. So there's no real change. It's THE HALO EFFECT. It's not gonna be a big change in a different direction. We're gonna keep on trying to do what we started to do."

Last August, Peter told Australia's "Everblack" podcast about THE HALO EFFECT's mindset while writing the new material: "What we've done with this one and the last one was basically we just went into the studio with some ideas. Niclas had many, many ideas, some finished songs, and then he invited us, everybody else, in the songwriting process. So we went in without having a clear plan on how it's gonna sound, but obviously, it's in the fingers and it's in Mikael's voice. Whatever comes out is the way that it sounds now. So the next record is — you always wanna evolve, obviously, but it's not different; it's definitely the same type of genre. And, like I said, we went in and we played what we felt like. And Niclas had written a bunch of songs together with Jesper, and we went in the studio on this one and just did our thing on them."

He continued: "A lot of times some bands evolve all the time and it's always different from record [to record]. But I think we feel more comfortable than we did before. We had no pressure by doing [the first THE HALO EFFECT album] 'Days Of The Lost', and we had no pressure [on the follow-up album]. But at the same time, we've been out playing, we're together in an even stronger way than we were before. So, it's definitely the same type of music. But it's — I don't know; it's hard to describe."

Also in August, Stanne told Finland's Chaoszine about THE HALO EFFECT's upcoming LP: "It's done, and it sounds awesome. But, yeah, we were [originally] supposed to do an EP [instead of a full-length album] — we had that kind of plan — but then we realized, 'Ah, maybe not.' … So it's been — not stressful, but we did a lot during a short period of time, which ended up being fantastic just because it turned out a much more confident album, I think. It's very focused and you can, you can probably tell — at least from the people that I've played it to — that whereas the first time was kind of, like, 'Hey, let's figure out what we wanna do,' whereas this is kind of, like, 'This is exactly what we wanna do.'"

He added: "So it's, it's gonna be interesting. I can't wait to have people hear it because I'm incredibly proud of it."

Asked if the second THE HALO EFFECT album is a "continuation" of "Days Of The Lost", which came out in 2022, Stanne said: "Yeah, I think so. I think Niclas and Jesper were more confident in terms of their songwriting, where it's, like, 'Yeah, this is gonna work.' And there are some cool experimentation on the album as well, but some of the songs are just like straight up, like there's no questions. It's just so easy and so to the point, you know. So it's kind of fun when I get the demo version of a song, and I start thinking about lyrics and vocals, it's, like, it just makes sense. I just know this by heart. It's so easy. Which is — it is weird, but it's just, like, it speaks to me in a way that where I go like, 'Okay, I know exactly what to do and I can finish it in a matter of days.' That's sometimes how it feels. You just hear a song and you go, like, 'Yep, I know this already. I know exactly what to do. And it's gonna be great."

In February, THE HALO EFFECT released the official music video for the song "Become Surrender". The track, which has been a staple of THE HALO EFFECT's live shows for a while now, is not expected to appear on the band's upcoming second album.

THE HALO EFFECT debuted "Become Surrender", which was recorded at the same time as "Days Of The Lost", during its February 2023 Swedish tour.

In May 2023, THE HALO EFFECT released a visualizer for the song "Path Of Fierce Resistance". The track, which was previously released as a Japanese exclusive on "Days Of The Lost", was finally made available in the rest of the world.

"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.

Photo credit: Markus Esselmark