White Halo — the seven-years-in-the-making third full-length from Tokyo quintet Heaven in Her Arms — is a fierce and lush amalgamation of post-metal atmospherics, classic screamo, black metal, prog rock, and trad metal sure to trigger metalgaze haters even as it subverts and expands the boundaries of that sub-subgenre.
“I’d like individuals to find meaning in the songs and the passages that speak to them,” vocalist/guitarist Kent Aoki tells Decibel. “A song that inspires hope in one person may inspire despair in another — a song or album that has those different dimensions to it is ideal. And, so, our songs, lyrics, artwork are all abstract, and we strive to make that part of our music.
“We also wanted to get rid of the ‘dark’ image that we had,” he continues. “I think you can probably get that feeling from the album’s artwork and title. There’s a very strong desire to express ‘beauty’ more than in the past.”
Check out the full album — out July 7 via Translation Loss and available for preorder here — below:
