Finally a Danish contribution to the Hard Rock style with a grain of AOR. After releasing a self-titled album Fate released "A Matter of Attitude" in 1986 to high publicity in Denmark. Hank Sherman of Mercyful Fate fame formed the band. The other Mercyful Fate guitarist Michael Denner also helped out on Fate's debut album. However, "A matter of Attitude" is far from Mercyful Fate with a frequent use of keyboards, which makes this blend in with the musical style that was popular in the late 80's.

MTM Classix has chosen to re-release the sold out "A Matter of Attitude" and has re-mastered the album and added two bonus tracks.

This is a classic album to me. It was one of the first albums I ever bought and listening to "A Matter of Attitude" today brings back a lot of memories.

The album highlight is Hard As A Rock, where Fate deviate from the massive use of keyboards on "A Matter of Attitude". On Hard As a Rock Fate moves in a harder direction driven by a crunchy guitar and a up-tempo kick ass chorus.

The power ballad alike (I Can't) Stand Losing You has beautiful keyboard and a really melodic chorus. Singer Jeff Lox Limbo sounds a bit like Joey Tempest from Europe adding a little more rasp in Limbo's vocals. This is emphasized on Point Of No Return.

Summerlove and I Won't Stop are the songs that calls to mind when I listen to this album. I Won't stop was the first single, which has a nice up-tempo beat with equal mixture of keyboards and guitars. The song is well written and has hit single labeled all over it. The choir is top-produced and very smooth. Summerlove is my personal favorite with cool 80's lyrics.

The album looses a point or two since it gets out of breath a bit on the last songs. Farrah and Get Up And Go are both standard songs and insignificant to me. The same goes for Do It, where Jeff Lox Limbo gets to be David Lee Roth, since it's a jazzy tune with Diamond Dave like vocals.

In 1990 FATE returned in a revitalized version with the powerful "Scratch 'n' Sniff" album. This was a different line-up with only Bob Lance (Bjarne Holm) and Pete Steiner (Peter Steincke) as original members. Singer Per Henriksen and guitar virtuoso Mattias Eklundh joined them as the "new" Fate. It is very odd that this line up is pictured on the back cover to "A Matter of Attitude" since the different line-ups represent two different directions, only having the band name in common. The two bonus tracks feature Per Henriksen on vocals and I am 100 percent sure it's not Mattias Eklundh on guitar, but instead a Danish guitarist called Søren Hoff, who recorded a few demos with Fate 1992.

Hardcore Romance wins with each listen. It reminds me of the bonus track off the CD version of "Scratch 'n' Sniff" Think for Yourself, because it takes several listens to appreciate the chorus. Hardcore Romance is a groovy rocker with Per Henriksen's vocals as center. The song also has a cool reference to Johnny B. Goode, where the guitarist plays the classic riff afterwards.

Memories of You is a ballad, where guitarist Søren Hoff (if it's him?) plays a great solo, which proves that he masters the six string as well. However, you do miss Mattias Eklundh on both songs.

The two bonus tracks are a nice addition, especially Hardcore Romance is a top track, but I would have preferred tracks with Jeff Lox Limbo on vocals because of the flow of the album. Limbo and Per Henriksen do not sound alike, symbolizing two different directions of the band exemplified by no use of keyboards in the revitalized version of Fate. I appeal to MTM Classix - bring on the fabulous "Scratch 'n' Sniff" as next re-issue.

Overall "A Matter of Attitude" has a high sentimental value for me. From an objective perspective, the music is pretty polished and the songs that work best are the ones with a harder edge. However, the first single I Won't Stop is a great mixture of Hard Rock with poppy AOR elements. Comparing to other bands in this style "A Matter of Attitude" is worthy and a classic album of 1986.

Written by Michael
Monday, July 5, 2004
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Ratings

Michael: 7/10

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Comment by Ole Bach (Anonymous) - Wednesday, July 7, 2004

It is one of the best albums from a danish band ever, i am not much into that kind of metal/hard/heavy rock but this has it all.OB.

Comment by Rusty Razor (Anonymous) - Saturday, April 30, 2005

Have this one to. Loved as kid...but it is a little too popish and shallow

Comment by Rock God! (Anonymous) - Saturday, June 18, 2005

This is a top notch 80's pop metal album if this style of music is your cup of tea. Anything that sounds this polished is gonna be good and if it's from overseas, even better! Unfortunately, no matter how good your sound is, marketing is everything. This album probably fared well in Denmark, but we didn't hear much about these guys here in North America. With the right marketing, this album could have gone big. It has all the right elements: commercial savvy, big sound, and HIT POTENTIAL. Top 40 radio would have been all over songs like Summerlove and (I Can't Stand)Losing You, especially at a time when Bon Jovi and Europe were getting the respect of the masses. In fact, I think Point of No Return holds up well even to this day. The song is ultra-European sounding and therefore doesn't come across as dated at all. There is an 80's comeback still going on, so someone should get this album into the hands of a disk jockey somewhere so that these guys get the exposure they deserve. Summerlove would sound great on the soundtrack for some teen flick, don't ya think?