These blokes looked like they landed off the beaches of California and the screens of MTV. Signed to EMI Denmark, Fate went on to release a number of albums during the late 80’s.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Fate
ALBUM: Fate
LABEL: EMI
SERIAL: 1395 821
YEAR: 1985
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Denmark
LINEUP: Jeff ‘Lox’ Limbo – vocals * Hank Sherman – guitars * Pete Steiner – bass, keyboards * Bob Lance – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Love On The Rox * 02 Fallen Angel * 03 Rip It Up * 04 Victory * 05 Danger Zone * 06 She’s Got The Devil Inside * 07 Downtown Toy * 08 Do You Want It * 09 Backdoor Man * 10 We’re Hot * 11 Lock You Up
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
The well loved Danish band Fate started life off in 1985. Guitarist Hank Sherman was the man responsible for bringing this band to life. He was of course one of the principal members of heavy metal band Mercyful Fate, but he tired of the satanic content around that band, wanting to go more mainstream and commercial.
Well, he couldn’t have wished for anything more squeaky clean than this – his next band Fate. A complete turnaround from his previous band. These blokes looked like they landed off the beaches of California and the screens of MTV. Signed to EMI Denmark, Fate went on to release a number of albums during the late 80’s, the first of which was this 1985 self titled debut.
The Songs
The first two tracks sound pretty decent. ‘Love On The Rox’ and ‘Fallen Angel’, but from here on in the music takes a gonzo style approach. ‘Rip It Up’ is a cheap and nasty retake on the American style of 80’s hard rock. So too most of the other tracks which follow-on. I’m thinking that perhaps Fate got into the studio reasonably quickly and bashed these songs out quite fast, because the end result to my ears, sounds rather average.
In Summary
While this album was a good start, it wasn’t quite up to the level of sophistication of their second LP – ‘A Matter Of Attitude’, which is not surprising really because that album ended up being one of the best of the decade. Still, the Fate debut album is very underrated and often overlooked when we talk about albums from the year 1985, probably due to the fact that it was quite raw sounding, and a bit rough around the edges regarding the production, and the other points mentioned above.
Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
