Review Fate - Ghosts From the Past 2011

Tracks
1. Children Of The Night
2. Miracle
3. Seeds Of Terror
4. Fear Of The Stranger
5. At the End Of The Day
6. All That I Want
7. Follow Your Heart
8. Daddy´s Girl
9. Moving On
10. Murder
11. The Last Time
12. I Belive in Rock N Roll
13. The Other Side

Band:
Pete Steiner - Bass, Keyboards
Jens Berglid - Drums
Mikkel Henderson - Keyboards
Dagfinn Joensen - Lead Vocals
Torben Enevoldsen - Guitar

Discography:
1984 Fate
1986 A Matter of Attitude
1988 Cruisin' for a Bruisin'
1990 Scratch 'N' Sniff
2006 V

Guests:

Info
Produced by Fate and Thomas Pedersen
Mastered by Torben Lysholm

Released 25/11-2011
Reviewed 19/11-2011

Links:
fatetheband.com
myspae
youtube
aorheaven

Danish band Fate is a band with a long history and a fairly long list of past members, a list that actually extends longer than the discography of the band. The band has been at it since 1984 and during that time they have managed five albums and they are now releasing their sixth album, an album coming five years after the latest album which was cleverly called V which hardly can be described as a imaginative name but that is not the one being reviewed here. Thing is though that since that album the band has exchange singer and guitarist and the fact is that since the formation of the band in 1984 only the name and they keyboardist remain unchanged. Sure they have not seen as many members come and go as Coronatus or Uriah Heep but still it seems difficult for them to keep to one crew. Ghosts From the Past might be something that goes through this sixth album with that particular name, I wonder if the name points to former band members or former glories.

It is rock/metal with some traces of AOR, with catchy melodies and choruses these guys create a type of music that is easily absorbed for the listener. The new vocalist has a clean voice, sings mostly in the higher notes and I guess that you can in a way say that he is a bit of a typical AOR singer, good vocalist I would say. The sound and production is good, it makes the melodies stand out and the heaviness as well as power is there to make it a heavy yet melodic album. I think a band like Million is a quite good match as a band to make a comparison with, this album has thirteen songs and it plays for almost one hour. These thirteen songs are fit to a similar style and the album remains coherent throughout the entire album, which actually means that the songs has quite limited variational properties.

It all starts really well with the track called Children of the Night which charms with its great chorus and really good keyboard lines that brightens up the song and sets up some expectations for what is to follow. The track after keeps to the same concept and is another great track and it moves on in that fashion all the way to the end close to an hour later. The tracks are all good and there is really not much to fault when it comes to the thirteen songs on this album, no one song stand out as worse than any of the others although the same can be said when looking at the other end of the scale as well. I would say that there are thirteen equally good songs where that said quality is very good.

This album has a few slight issues though, firstly it is too long with its playing time of almost one hour. One hour in itself is not necessarily as problem but due to the general lack of variation in the songs it becomes one. This of course does not mean that the songs are bad only that they are not varied enough for the music to remain entertaining for the entire time the album plays. For me it feels a bit like they should at least have dumped three of the songs to keep it fresh all the way to the end, as it is now the end of this album feels just like a wait for the album to end and not something I like doing. I like an album to remain interesting from start to finish and this album does not quite manage to be that, only good songs can’t make a good album it is more involved than that.

It is another album that has all going for it with great songs and a high quality sound but still just feels good maybe just slightly above average but around average I would say and that is only because of the lack of variation. Great songs is not enough to make a great album, it has to remain interesting for the entire playing time as well, too bad there aren’t more bands that understand that fact. This is another band who does not know to end in time.

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Fate Ghosts From the Past

Fate
Ghosts From the Past