Looks like The Halo Effect has really been cracking down on new material lately. The band premiered two new songs – "The Defiant One" and "Become Surrender" – during recent shows in both Gothenburg and Malmö, Sweden. Which isn't surprising given the band has made it clear they have every intention of hitting the studio this year for a follow-up to their 2022 debut Days Of The Lost.
For those unaware, is Dark Tranquility vocalist Mikael Stanne alongside former In Flames members Jesper Strömblad, Peter Iwers, Daniel Svensson, and Niclas Engelin. In a 2022 interview with Metal Injection, Stanne said he sees The Halo Effect as an enduring project and not just a one-off thing.
"I really see this as being an enduring project. We wrote way more songs for the album than what ended up [using], so we're already halfway through the next album in terms of songwriting. So we've got that covered. I mean, it's great.
"It's been difficult, of course, to kind of launch a new band, figuring out how things got to look, what an album's going to look like, logos, pictures, all that kind of stuff. But that's been fascinating to kind of start from nothing, but of course using all of our experience and contacts. So once we kind of get this going we're going to keep doing it, and everybody's super busy, obviously, with everything. So maybe it's going to be like whenever we play it's going to be more exclusive, I like to think.
"But no, we're going to keep doing it. We had a blast recording the album. We started rehearsing just before I went on this tour and it felt fantastic just to be in a room together and just going to play these songs. And so yeah, I think we have a good shot at continuing this. The reception so far has been fantastic. It's a fun thing but yeah, of course during the pandemic it's very easy to say yes to everything. And it's not that I regret it, but I realize that I'm in over my head here because I'm never going to be home again [laughs]. But it's all good."
