AFM Records
Review by Tatianny Ruiz
Formed in 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden, the modern metal band METALITE has undergone some changes over the years, both in the line-up following the departure of vocalist Emma Bensing to welcome beautiful Erica Ohlsson, as well as the music line itself since the debut album ‘Heroes in Time’ released in 2017, and I must confess that these changes in the vocal part are always something that concerns me in these band starts, after all we must admit that the release of a debut is the crucial moment of image fixation, sound and identity of the band to the public and what we have left to say when this identity is broken early on? Well, apparently the band has overturned the situation and Erica seems to have fit in well with the context by migrating everything to a more evasive and fast modernized sound as we could hardly expect before.
Two years have passed and here we are with ‘Biomechanicals’ being released by AFM Records on October 25 this year, and it’s time to see how far evolution could go. My audition will travel in this technologically stylized and dancing environment of the “Mind of a Monster” and I must mention that there are a lot of pop elements being used here but in contrast the guitars and keyboards float over vibrant and creative spatial soundscapes.
Erica’s voice is very stable and subtle which makes it very easy to fit into the vast instrumental of tracks such as “Eye of the Storm” and the title track “Biomechanicals”, being the second with brief metalcore appearances on a very different lines.
METALITE has really created something very different in this new effort, easy to duel with several big names in the industry, including giving listeners more passionate moments like “Breakaway” and sweet melodies in tune with an exciting futuristic sound.
Often within metal the less is much more, this is certainly the case with this band now, everything seems to have fallen into place as board pieces and magnificent solos only come at unexpected moments as well as a weight that changes the virtual reality in which the listener will be, perfect example of this in “Victory or Death”.
‘Biomechanicals’ will pass, track by track, and just impress you, rest assured, there is a lot of energy, a lot of dynamism, and it won’t take many minutes for the concept of this album to connect with your mind, “Warrior” will guarantee you so much vibration as possible and I wonder what this will be like on the show, should we dance? We are certainly close to that, but who cares? The sound is extraordinary in flawless production, mixing and mastering.
“Apocalypse”, “Social Butterflies” and “Rise of the Phoenix” will be another three great moments on this album and something curious is that despite all that it keeps a very similar line within this modern sound the tracks sound really different from each other, I know, this sounds a little crazy to say but this is the truth, everything differentiates and fits like gears and my opinion is easily concluded as this being a great release this year, of course I can’t say the lyrics are something totally new in their themes but the overall sound yes, extremely cohesive and fun, an album full of archives of energizing vibration.
Highlight for “Far From the Sanctuary” and “World on Fire”.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist:
- Far from the sanctuary
- Apocalypse
- Biomechanicals
- Warrior
- Mind Of A Monster
- A-Maze
- Eye Of The Storm
- Breakaway
- Social Butterflies
- Rise Of The Phoenix
- Victory Of Death
Line Up:
- Erica Ohlsson – Vocals
- Edwin Premberg – Guitar
- Robert Ornesved – Guitar
- Robert Majd – Bass
- Lea Larsson – Drums
Links:
Metalite Official website
Instagram
Spotify
AFM Records