Eastern High – Halo
Release Date: 30th July 2021
Label: Self Released
Pre-Order
Genre: Swedish Progressive Metal
FFO: Gojira, Opeth, SOEN & Katatonia (Early).
Review By: The Demented Raven
We have a Swedish Progressive Metal band today who have an interesting history in regards to their formation! It started with two brothers who then added more members & then released this album as a fully fledged band!
We start with an incredibly polished introduction with Erosion of Hearts. The guitars really show what they’re made of once the song kicks in, especially if the polished introduction at the start gets you worried! As for the vocals, they sound slightly quiet to begin with but they pick up fast throughout the song. This is a solid start with Ola Svensson sounding like a mixture of metal vocalists as he powers through with plenty of emotion. Whilst not the most dominant voice in the world, it’s enough to be considered a metal vocalist and the emotion and energy shine through (and continue to do so even more as the album goes on!) He then ends the song with brief screaming vocals, flawlessly.
Emperor has a much better introduction, in my opinion, and is instantly an attention grabber. Everything blends well and Ola seems to really think outside the box with the vocal placements. The harmonies & vocal octaves in particular. This one is a strong contender with Johan Svensson & Niklas Cvetovski really showing what they’re made of with a well fitting solo section.
Next we have… A song about Covid 19? Well it was only a matter of time. Notorious Enemy, a well suited name, as the song is an energetic number in itself. You can hear the frustration over the pandemic throughout the entire track by the entire band. The guitars, bass, the pounding drums by Christian Lindstrom & of course, Ola with his screaming vocals and singing as he belts “this is the curse for all mankind!” This sums up the song to a tee and I’m not disappointed in their rendition of the pandemic via song. It’s really well done.
The Melody of Journey‘s introduction is impressive & catchy. The guitar leads’ tone there reminds me of the likes of “The Weak Willed” by All That Remains and it works well. The song itself is a journey of it’s own and the band aren’t afraid to make it so, especially with an extended solo which goes back to the main melody. Ola is full of surprises with his vocal range and it shows.
Morning Star continues to prove that the band aren’t one trick ponies and that all the songs on this album have their own personalities, no two tracks sound the same. Dystopia also applies to this but the surprising thing is that it has one hell of a groove throughout which I did not expect! It isn’t forced and works well, especially when the rhythm returns to a regular metal sound. It switches back and forth and blends perfectly.
Halo, despite being the title song, doesn’t feel quite as outstanding as the others. It gets the job done but it doesn’t stand out enough compared to the previous tracks. I can see it being a good live number however, with the “Halo” section. I can really see that being a perfect moment to engage with the audience.
And so we conclude the album with Ashes to Ashes. Really eager to make their tracks sound different from the rest (which is always a good thing when done right), we have a piano introduction with softer vocals from Ola. The sound is very fitting as the song itself is about loss & death so it’s a very hard hitting subject and the song captures that. Even when the band kicks in, it’s still incredibly sombre which matches the theme of the song itself.
Overall, this is a really solid album. As a project that started with the two brothers Ola & Johan, they really did their homework with hiring Niklas, Fredrik and Christian. The entire band works really well together & they show a lot of promise. I am curious to see what they do next! I hope they keep their material unpredictable, along the lines of Dystopia. It keeps the listeners guessing and in my opinion, that’s always a good thing.
(4.5 / 5)
