Metalite
Biomechanicals
AFM Records
2019
Sometimes I get varying amounts flak from friends for being overly critical or even sometimes even damn mean, when I listen to something, they thing is good, but I don’t necessarily agree with. It obviously has to do with taste and personal preferences, but also the accumulated amount of time I’ve been following the genre and the amount of bands I encounter. Sometimes I do not like their bias, when they’re somehow involved in productions. It’s good to not bullshit people, especially your friends.
At any rate, after this somewhat unnecessary preamble, let’s consider, Metalite, a Swedish female fronted quintet that sounds like a mix between Amaranthe and Temperance. Poppy, melodic, modern rock/metal with pleasant vocals, which are well produced, but not as impressive say as Elize Ryd’s but still are not to be scoffed at. Actually the first thing to notice is the vocalist change from Emma Bensing to Erica Ohlsson, who has a similarly clean voice, but seems to push things a little more towards rock/metal, at least in the songs that are somewhat faster. I guess the closer comparison would be Omega Avenue/Nightwish/Dark Matter’s Annete Ozlon.
“Far from the Sanctuary” has all the bombast one would expect and even some slight power metal tendencies, when weird keyboards don’t permeate it.
Something that is pretty commonplace on the keyboard heavy “Apocalypse” that if full of samples and keys, the beat sounds like pure pop, but some of the vocals I suppose reclaim the song for rock. The chorus no matter how predictable and saccharine is, it’s sole saving grace.
“Biomechanicals” has also a ton of samples and it’s only the muddy guitars, energetic drumming and vocals that keep it from collapsing… almost all the samples and keys make me want to cover my ears.
“Warrior” is actually a power metal song in disguise with all the crappy trancey keys and bad sounding drums not helping it. It’s actually the song I might have sort of enjoyed if it flooded in keys. Pretty straightforward and the vocals are sort of engaging.
“Mind of a Monster” is as a lot of material here, generic in a sort of nice, but not amazing way. You hope it might get better, but it never quite does.
“World on Fire” feels like someone took the template from a previous song and just replaced parts with other similar parts, especially those keyboard sounds just give you a sense of 10th anniversary deja vu…
“Eye of the Storm” is a fantasy inspired neo-power piece, but it lacks the power that made the actual genre mean something in the 80s and 90s.
“Breakaway” is an incredibly predictable mid-tempo melodic track. While some of the vocals are nice and its solo is not terrible, I was frequently yawning by thing point, at how predictable things had become.
While the lyrics of metal songs are not meant to be diatribes, sometimes they tend to verge on the ridiculous and despite “Social Butterflies” having a generally pleasant vocal melody for the chorus and even an inspired keyboard lead, I just felt that my IQ was decreasing the longer I was listening to it.
“Rise of the Phoenix” is the n’th song with samey riffs, the same mid-tempo plod and annoying keys. Plus sorry, but rise is an irregular verb: rise, rose, risen… just saying!
“Victory or Death” left me with little option than welcome the latter… despite it sounding a little different. Here I actually liked the keyboard melodies, but found the drumming inexplicably energetic. Actually if the tweaked this track a little bit, it would have been pretty decent.
There’s definitely some talent in this band and they do seem able to include a hook on every track, but their songwriting still leaves a lot to be desired. The further modernization of the sound with lots of keys doesn’t quite sound much appealing; maybe they could actually be mixed lower.
Sounding like a metallic Ace Of Base, the band has to face some fierce competition for bands like Temperance, Cyhra, and of course Amaranthe. While they are talented, they’re nowhere near the level of integration that some of these bands have achieved. They could go either way, but other than touring, maybe focusing a bit more on the songwriting before they release a follow up, might be recommended. Worth keeping the name in mind.
At any rate, after this somewhat unnecessary preamble, let’s consider, Metalite, a Swedish female fronted quintet that sounds like a mix between Amaranthe and Temperance. Poppy, melodic, modern rock/metal with pleasant vocals, which are well produced, but not as impressive say as Elize Ryd’s but still are not to be scoffed at. Actually the first thing to notice is the vocalist change from Emma Bensing to Erica Ohlsson, who has a similarly clean voice, but seems to push things a little more towards rock/metal, at least in the songs that are somewhat faster. I guess the closer comparison would be Omega Avenue/Nightwish/Dark Matter’s Annete Ozlon.
“Far from the Sanctuary” has all the bombast one would expect and even some slight power metal tendencies, when weird keyboards don’t permeate it.
Something that is pretty commonplace on the keyboard heavy “Apocalypse” that if full of samples and keys, the beat sounds like pure pop, but some of the vocals I suppose reclaim the song for rock. The chorus no matter how predictable and saccharine is, it’s sole saving grace.
“Biomechanicals” has also a ton of samples and it’s only the muddy guitars, energetic drumming and vocals that keep it from collapsing… almost all the samples and keys make me want to cover my ears.
“Warrior” is actually a power metal song in disguise with all the crappy trancey keys and bad sounding drums not helping it. It’s actually the song I might have sort of enjoyed if it flooded in keys. Pretty straightforward and the vocals are sort of engaging.
“Mind of a Monster” is as a lot of material here, generic in a sort of nice, but not amazing way. You hope it might get better, but it never quite does.
“World on Fire” feels like someone took the template from a previous song and just replaced parts with other similar parts, especially those keyboard sounds just give you a sense of 10th anniversary deja vu…
“Eye of the Storm” is a fantasy inspired neo-power piece, but it lacks the power that made the actual genre mean something in the 80s and 90s.
“Breakaway” is an incredibly predictable mid-tempo melodic track. While some of the vocals are nice and its solo is not terrible, I was frequently yawning by thing point, at how predictable things had become.
While the lyrics of metal songs are not meant to be diatribes, sometimes they tend to verge on the ridiculous and despite “Social Butterflies” having a generally pleasant vocal melody for the chorus and even an inspired keyboard lead, I just felt that my IQ was decreasing the longer I was listening to it.
“Rise of the Phoenix” is the n’th song with samey riffs, the same mid-tempo plod and annoying keys. Plus sorry, but rise is an irregular verb: rise, rose, risen… just saying!
“Victory or Death” left me with little option than welcome the latter… despite it sounding a little different. Here I actually liked the keyboard melodies, but found the drumming inexplicably energetic. Actually if the tweaked this track a little bit, it would have been pretty decent.
There’s definitely some talent in this band and they do seem able to include a hook on every track, but their songwriting still leaves a lot to be desired. The further modernization of the sound with lots of keys doesn’t quite sound much appealing; maybe they could actually be mixed lower.
Sounding like a metallic Ace Of Base, the band has to face some fierce competition for bands like Temperance, Cyhra, and of course Amaranthe. While they are talented, they’re nowhere near the level of integration that some of these bands have achieved. They could go either way, but other than touring, maybe focusing a bit more on the songwriting before they release a follow up, might be recommended. Worth keeping the name in mind.