Stereotypical Pop Music with Hoarse Vocals and Mild Guitar Riffs - A Review of The Halo Effect's Days of the Lost

For years, or shall I say decades by now, fans from all around the world have been complaining about the downfall of melodic death metal pioneers In Flames who have been opting for playing commercially successful alternative rock while gradually stepping away from their beloved genre roots. People have been fantasizing about what could have been if the band had chosen a different line-up and stylistic compass. When new project Cyhra around former In Flames member Jesper Strömblad saw the light of day however, even the most optimistic fans were shocked by the toothless melodic groove metal soundscapes said group had to offer. The Halo Effect seemed like a more promising effort as it features five former members of the band, including session vocalist Mikael Stanne from In Flames' adventurous, atmospheric and progressive debut effort Lunar Strain.

Once more however, fans who have been craving for a better alternative to contemporary In Flames are being led down in the most disappointing manner. Days of the Lost sounds like a dated collection of lazily written In Flames b-sides from the turn of the millennium. The combination of melodic guitar leads and solos on one side as well as upper mid-tempo riffs and faster passages on the other side sounds too dull to be memorable and too harmonious to be considered a return to the roots. 

The bass guitar play is uninspired and unimpressive throughout the album and best described as serviceable and by-the-numbers. 

The same things have to be said about the recurring drum patterns and percussive elements that fail to leave a deeper mark and sound as if the musician had been on autopilot, or worse, as if his style had been reproduced by a machine. 

The hoarse vocals by Mikael Stanne certainly are distinctive as his vocals sound like none other. However, his efforts sound the same in every single song and end up sounding nerve-firing a few tunes into this record. He doesn't move one iota away from his trademark style which might either be due to excessive self-confidence or a lack of talent in the worst case.

Every song sounds extremely similar to one another which is also due to lazy songwriting. Each tune is about four minutes long, follows the predictable verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus pattern and seems to have been created to be potentially chosen as the record's next single. 

The toothless production that is equally sleep-inducing makes matters even worse. Even the worst black metal basement demo or overproduced loudness war effort in the key of Rick Rubin has more soul than the forgettable sound of this disasterpiece.

This album has more pop trademarks in its songwriting, production and execution than most pop bands these days. Even for an avid metal fan, it's certainly more gripping to listen to the most recent outputs by up-and-coming pop groups like Japanese Breakfast than this pile of crap. The only even remotely recommendable tune might be the atmospheric, electronic and melodic ''A Truth Worth Lying For'' that breaks out of the usual stereotypes. Then again, this kind of approach has been tried out by both In Flames and Dark Tranquillity time and again, with overall better results.

At the end of the day, one has to wonder why a group like The Halo Effect even exists. Days of the Lost sounds like casting pop music of the worst type with some heavy guitars and ever-repeating hoarse vocals. Even the last few efforts by In Flames, that even I thought were underwhelming with their massive pop appeal, still had more courage, energy and identity than this coaster. Don't make the same mistake several fans made when purchasing the record by similarly terrible project Cyhra and expect an album in the key of critically acclaimed melodic death metal records such as Clayman. This record here could only be remotely qualified as melodic death metal by an inexperienced teenager who has been listening to music like this for the first time at the age of fourteen after discovering Alter Bridge, Linkin Park and Nickelback. To keep it short: stay away from this forever.

Final Rating: 20%