HALO

Swedish quintet Eastern High were formed in 2016 from the ashes of a melodic death/thrash metal band Wasted Shells, when brothers Ola and Johan Svensson (vocals and guitars, respectively) decided to commence a new musical adventure, incorporating more progressive elements into their sound. The pair self-released their debut album Garden of Heathens in 2017 and spent the following years scaling up the project to a full-blown band, adding bassist Fredrik Rosdahl, guitarist Niklas Cvetkovski and drummer Christian Lindström to the line-up. Their sophomore album Halo was finally released at the end of July this year.

Shrouded in quintessential Nordic melancholy, Halo is an exciting collection of emotional yet extremely powerful tunes that flirt with a multitude of styles and influences without settling into any specific pigeon hole. There's a touch of prog metal, but also healthy doses of gothic, folk and melodic death metal, and even a couple of excursions into metalcore ("Notorious Enemy"). All these influences are masterfully amalgamated into the 8 songs of the album, giving the music an organic and distinct sound that brings to mind several illustrious bands, without really sounding like any of them. There are echoes of Amorphis in the most folk-inspired episodes of the record ("Journey", "Halo"), but the powerful yet incredibly melodic guitar riffs and leads also immediately bring to mind the Gothenburg melodeath scene (Dark Tranquillity, In Flames). Meanwhile, Ola Svensson's crooning vocals steer the music in the direction of Tiamat and the rest of the gothic metal scene. Come to think about it, Halo might just sound like the album that Dark Tranquillity could have made if they had continued the gothic experiments of Projector (1999), bringing in Johan Edlund on vocals. The prog metal influences (Psychotic Waltz, Dead Soul Tribe) further enrichen the record's sound, adding a strong sense of dynamics and a fearless taste for the eclectic that gives them the balls to pair up, among other things, huge chunks of really heavy rifforama with samples of Greta Thunberg's "how dare you" UN climate speech ("Erosion of Hearts").

Although in the previous paragraph I mentioned many bands from the late 90s / early 00s, Halo sports an incredibly modern production sound: heavy on bass, packed with beefy rhythm guitars and thundering drums, and with precise guitar leads that cut perfectly through the mix to deliver their melodic lines. This is the sound that many modern progressive metal bands strive to achieve these days: powerful yet multi-layered, detailed and nuanced. The band did a great job in recording the album and sound engineer Erik Wiss in producing and mixing it.

The first half of the record is absolutely splendid. Songs like "Erosion of Hearts", "Emperor", "Notorious Enemy", and "Journey" have it all: monolithic riffs, super catchy melodies and vocal hooks, good dynamics, and a couple of unexpected turns per song that keep things fresh and interesting (the use of vocal samples on "Erosion of Hearts", the metalcore breakdown on "Notorious Enemy", the powerful folksy crescendo on "Journey"). Things take a slightly more sedated turn in the second half, where songs like "Morning Star", "Dystopia" or the title-track feel a tad too repetitive and are somewhat less inspired, especially in the vocal melodies. The gothic piano ballad "Ashes to Ashes" that closes the album is also a bit hit and miss: it's slightly too bland and corny, but it finds some redemption in the beautiful guitar solo in the coda.

Despite a somewhat weaker second half, Halo remains a thoroughly enjoyable record, packed with moments of melodic brilliance without sacrificing even an ounce of power for it. The combination of powerful metallic riffs and melodic hooks is undoubtedly one of the major strengths of this album. Another strength lies in the mastery with which the band managed to combine an eclectic set of influences into a sound that feels personal and distinctive. If Eastern High will manage to improve the consistency of their songwriting, it is hard to imagine what could stop their ascent to the very upper echelons of the progressive extreme metal scene.

[Originally written for The Metal Observer]