The members of THE HALO EFFECT are masters of their domain, pioneers of the Gothenburg melodeath scene. Lead guitarists and melodic death-slingers Niclas Engelin and Jesper Strömblad, lead singer and lyricist Mikael Stanne, supported by the solid backbone and foundation of bassist Peter Iwers, and his partner in crime for twenty plus years, hard-hitting drummer Daniel Svensson. Having known each other from an early age back in the late 80’s, the members started playing together in various projects during the 90’s, before forming In Flames and Dark Tranquility, two truly iconic bands who would go on to dominate the Gothenburg scene. Both bands were notably major forces behind the melodeath monicker: The Gothenburg Sound. A sound that would echo far and wide across the world and influence countless metal bands during the 90’s and early 2000’s.
2022 sees the debut album release “Days Of The Lost” from The Halo Effect so we had a chat to bassist Peter Iwers and drummer Daniel Svensson about the band, the new album and what the future holds.
On the formation of the band:
Peter: We just wanted to write music together and as it happens we play a lot of music that is considered part of the Gothenburg sound and everything is in our hands so to speak and Mikael’s voice. That wasn’t a plan to revive the Gothenburg sound at all but just get together and write music but we kind of knew what was going to come out of it, it was just making music with people that we love, good friends.
On the name The Halo Effect:
Peter: Mikael came up with it and shortly described is the kind of impression you get if you see somebody that you have some sort of emotion towards or a feeling that this person is really good at their job or somebody that you know that is really good at their job or is really attrractive and the other way around and when you see them do something else and you look at them you get a little of them, hopefully a positive emotion or feeling. That’s the Halo Effect.
On returning to the music scene compared to previous times:
Daniel: It’s tough because you’ve got to stand out among the feed, you have to reach out to the buzz and create this content all the time which takes away from the musicianship, [it’s] why we’re all in a band. Now we have to come up with new stuff but you have to post and not disappear in the buzz. It was probably just a few years ago when it was easy to reach out on social media but now everybone is there even though you don’t have a band, I think it’s tough to stand out, there’s so much going on. So I think it’s getting harder actually.
Check out the full interview
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wwDs6p8ywUs
Listen to Podcast version on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3KiSax1
Get Days Of The Lost here: https://bfan.link/days-of-the-lost.yde
