It is generally not a good sign when you listen to an album...and start laughing.
Fate were around for awhile in the 80s and had a few decent albums to boot. Most notable was "Matter of Attitude", an album that could be compared to Da Vinci,
Treat and Dalton and featured a completely different singer than
Fate of 2006. They had Jeff Limbo back then, when the music was fluffier and more
AOR. They changed to Per Henrikson (now Johansson) for "Scratch and Sniff" in 1990 and that is who has made his grand return for the revamped
Fate. Someone must have told Per that it would be just awesome for him to sing in a paint-peeling high pitched screech. Oh, and to put force and emphasis on things a'la Ronnie James Dio. That someone never had to listen to the end result, because their ears would have bled them to deaf. Of equal hilarity is Per's other "mis"use of his voice: the guttural lower range. This adds little to their respective tracks except inducing more of those shudderingly bad moments. Per's singing is sort of like getting a root canal. You can't even think for all the drilling... or vocal atrocities, as the case would be here. A terribly distracting smear on what could have been good songs.
Yes, it is that bad.
Another point of pain, also has to do with voice: the backing vocals which are used on the songs. It just pops up at the most inopportune times and is like a million Pers singing all at once in some kind of screechy cheese ridden harmony. Some of the tunes start out with a wickedly gripping guitar rhythm - a far cry from the
AOR antics of yore, but promising starters nonetheless - but as soon as those vocals kick in it automatically ruins any kind of musical groove they have established. It doesn't seem to make a difference if it is the chorus or just Per sticking it out solo, both instances are awful enough to cause even the most open minded listener wince.
Tommy Hansen (Helloween) does a fine job on the production. It is actually too good for this disc. Bold, biting, suited to a power metal album, it gives the sound depth and muscle. It's a shame that it is wasted on this. Not to say that the album doesn't glimmer with the promise of hope. Many of these songs could be snipped, gutted and pieced together to create a patchwork of a handful of truly good tracks. The potential is there. But hearing
Fate murk up one nifty structure after another and seeing yet another track just fall apart, is plain sad.
Not everything is a complete waste of time. Check out the crunchy opener,
"Butterfly" that has Johansson screeching to the sky trying with all his might to conjure the majesty of the mighty RJD. However, he is wrapped up in enough scathing guitars and a slamming power metal-esque rhythm to make it a fairly cool track. This is where Hansen's production is allowed to really shine, and bring out a striking razor's edge to the sound.
"Everything About You" is similar enough to the ghost 80s
Fate to garner it worth a look as well. Not everything is terrible, yet some of the songs are manufactured in such a way that they are terribly annoying. This happens more often than a magic moment of musical happiness.
Okay, so you might say that this is not the
Fate of old, and therefore it should be judged under the standards free of nostalgia and in touch with the here and now. Well, even under those guidelines,
"V" still reeks more often than smells like roses and is riddled with a host of issues, all of which have been pointed out in this review. Dutch
AOR-sters Helloise managed to make a respectable jump from fluffy Scandi-
AOR to power metal back in '01 with "Fata Morgana", so such a leap of genres has been semi-successfully attempted. The poor song design choices make this a washout though.
I could poke at the CD even more but this is the kind of disc that manages to make fun of itself. Instead this 80s revival band's fate has been sealed. Having been one of the poster bands for Euro-
AOR, it is a tragedy watching them become so misguided. Older
Fate fans will be disappointed with the turn of events style-wise, and those into the harder rock/bordering on power metal style will either not recognize the name, be annoyed by Per, or be disinterested in general. A shame, because there is promise here, even if it is buried under a plethora of problems.
Written by
Alanna Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Show all reviews by AlannaRatingsAlanna: 4/10Members: 4/10 - Average of 1 ratings.
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 | Michael (Staff)
Rating: 4/10
Alanna's review is very true. Unfortunately! "V" is the long awaited and anticipated comeb... · Read more · |
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