"Safety Recall Notice" - Short intro song that's instrumental with electronic/industrial sounds. This is supposed to set the vibe for the album i guess. "A Thousand Charms" - Basically the only song on the album i don't like due to the awkward sample of some little girl singing about fireflies. This part is merely the intro to a song that is mostly a straight-forward depressing hardcore track. Good song, but the intro is embarrassing and out of place. "All This and Everything" - This song rules. Pissed hardcore. I'm fairly sure the bass player screams during the chorus and his voice sounds good along with Chris. The keyboard really shines on certain parts of this song with a haunting eerie quality. "One Minute" - This song could almost pass for an Unsane song. There are a lot of dynamics to keep it interesting. An energetic punk riff evolves into a moodier guitar part before exploding again. Judging by the lyrics, this song may be about how the world can take everything away from you before you realize it. "One minute...its gone. This wont take very long" "Sinking" - This one starts with a very somber bass line. This is easily the most depressing song on the album. Towards the end of the song a piano parts works its way in, and it actually works really well with the whole downer vibe of the song. Trust me on this one, i hate almost all piano parts and dread the fuk out of any band attempting to include them but on this one its cool and done tastefully. "Weigh Tag" - Strange keyboard and bass interaction as this one starts, then a paranoid sounding guitar riff erupts "Desolate days, pain. You keep on pushing". Spencer's voice sounds as raw and furious as on Unsane's song "Swim". Fuk yeah. "Washing Machine" - A cool atmospheric kind of song with samples of what i believe is an actual washing machine in the background. A quieter guitar and bassline come into play. "Train of Thought" - Industrial/Power Electronics sound with samples of some elderly guy talking about something... then the band fades in briefly, the samples resume then end, the band falls back in. "Its Low" - The bass player sings the verse parts on this one. I love the lyrics to this song. They have such a sarcastic and cynical vibe, "Dont start getting colder, dont look over your shoulder.There's no problems to see, take this...what you need". One of the most aggressive songs on "Halo" and one of my favorites. "Wait and See" - A song about being beaten to the floor of life. Another really great song. "Lunchbox" - Starts with a really depressing minimalist piano part which is repeated slowly until the bass, guitar, drums join in finally for one big, sad jam. This one's instrumental. Again, i can tolerate this song despite the piano because it is not overly-pretty like most piano parts and this song actually compliments the overall depressing nature of the other songs on "Halo".

In a certain sense a lot of this could have just as easily been an Unsane album. It is not that far removed from Unsane,except for a few parts with the keyboard/synth/piano/industrial rhythms to keep it interesting. I imagine at this point in his career Chris Spencer wanted to try something different.

The only thing i hate about this release, aside from the intro sample to a "A Thousand Charms", is the packaging it came in, and the stupid cover art and booklet. The cd comes in this shitty little cardboard digipack looking thing but then you open it up and it doesn't even have the holder thing to prevent the cd from being scratched before you've even heard it. Apparently you're just supposed to use this shitty case and hope it never gets scratched, which if you do... i guarantee it will be scratched in no time. A simple jewel case would have been a million times better. And the cover art/booklet... a stupid vase of flowers. Then you open up the booklet and instead of including the lyrics they give you 12 more colored pictures of the same vase of roses, but with different backgrounds - what a waste of space.

Because i am such an Unsane purist, the first time i heard this i wasn't sure if i liked it... but the second and third listen it clicked for me, this is a really good record, i am deducting one star only for the packaging/booklet issue and the stupid sample in song 2. The bottom line is... if you're into Unsane, The Cutthroats 9, Einsturzende Neubauten, Oxbox or depressing punk/hardcore with a few unique textures then buy this today.

Highly recommended. You'll be tapping your feet from the 1st drum beat. These guys have completely dominated my i-pod the last 2 weeks. I also recommend their 1st cd, its just as well done.

This originally came out in 2000 and got re-issued a few years later. If you want to hear a combination of extreme doom and exceptionally fast death metal with some of the most badass cover art you've ever seen then check this one out.