FATE: V

Released: 2006

Back in the mid-80s, Mercyful Fate split into two halves. King Diamond, Michael Denner and Timi Hansen went one way, doing pretty much what they were doing before, just under a different name. Hank Sherman went another. In fact, Hank went just about as far to the other side of the spectrum as possible, forming Fate. One of his partners in crime was drummer Bjarne Holm, who went by the name Bob Lance back then and somewhat ironically later ended up in the reformed Mercyful Fate. Fate was a Danish version of the melodic/hair bands storming the US charts at the time, although originally a rather more heavier one, until Sherman quit after two albums and the band went into party metal territory for a few years until the gravy train finally crashed and burned. I give this history lesson only to familiarise younger readers with one of the forgotten bands of the 80s. A forgotten band that, I must add, should have stayed that way.

With Sherman and Holm no longer in the band, V was Fate's comeback album after 16 years. The cover art, production and more metal sound is an admirable attempt to contemporise, but that doesn't stop V being ordinary. Opening track "Butterfly" is actually a fairly reasonable stab at present-day melodic metal, but it's really the only good track here. For the rest of the album, Fate tries on just about every melodic guise that's available, and none of them seem to fit. "Heaven's Crying Too" is ham-fisted epic power metal with Per Henricksen singing at close to the limit of his range, and that isn't pretty. "Everything About You" starts out with a Goth rock feel that steals a melody line directly from The Animal's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" but then changes into a power ballad, and things just get worse from there. Corny sub-standard hair-metal lyrics and Henricksen's irritating voice don't really help things, but the band's struggle to develop an identity is by far the worst aspect of V.

When bands lose their relevancy, it's usually time for them to part ways. When they never really had much relevancy in the first place, they should reconsider getting back together.

1. Butterfly


2. Heaven's Crying Too


3. Everything About You


4. Ecstacy


5. Nobody Loves You the Way I Do


6. Burned Child


7. I'll Get By


8. Life


9. Fate


10. Memories Won't Die


11. Toxic

Rating: 42%