Album Review: Metalite - Biomechanicals
Reviewed by Jon Wigg
Swedish melodic metal band Metalite present their second album, Biomechanicals. This album has a very pop-metal feel throughout and feels a lot like Amaranthe if they only had one female vocalist.
The first thing to note here is that the performances throughout are excellent, especially the vocals of new singer Erica Ohlsson who has a strong range and provides a perfect sound for this type of music. Her voice especially shines on the slower songs, 'Apocalypse' and 'Breakaway'.
The production is also excellent throughout with all instruments including the very active synths being crisp and clear and the album sounds big and bombastic, as it should given the genre.
On to the songs themselves. There are 11 tracks here and in general they formulaic - synth opening, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, guitar solo, key change, verse, chorus. A tried and tested formula for power/melodic metal which works in the main but can lead to predictability, particularly in this case at the start of the album. I personally struggled to get past the first couple of songs initially as for me, 'Far From The Sanctuary' and 'Apocalypse' used this formula but also feel like pop songs that have had metal elements added and are the weakest tracks here.
The album gets going with the title track 'Biomechanicals' which feels like it was written as a metal song with a very catchy pop chorus. This one will go down a storm live. Two more predictable songs follow, the lighter 'Mind Of A Monster' and 'World On Fire' before standout 'Eye Of The Storm' which has the best solo on the album. This song trips along nicely with a good complement of synth and guitar and the solo almost has a classical element a la Wolf Hoffmann (Accept).
'Breakaway' shows some 80's power ballad influences and the best vocal performance before another strong song 'Social Butterflies' kicks in. 'Rise Of The Phoenix' follows the formula and the album ends with the excellent 'Victory Or Death' which has a more traditional power metal vibe.
Some strong songs here by an undoubtedly talented band although some changes in tempo would not have gone amiss to break up the album, as demonstrated by 'Breakaway'. I can see Metalite going down an absolute storm at festivals as their tunes are catchy, singable and fun and they have a powerful vocalist who will be able to get crowds going. They don't break any moulds and if you don't like your metal in this vein, you won't like this. But if you are into the aforementioned Amaranthe, Within Temptation or Battle Beast, then you should check this out.
Metalite releases 'Biomechanicals' via AFM on October 25th
