If you've followed the Swedish Hard Rock quartet Fatal Smile since their inception in 1995 and enjoyed their two releases to date I have an earth shattering announcement for you because the band you know and love has had some dramatic lineup shifting. Founded by the guitarist known only as Y, the band now sports a completely new membership roster for most of the members and finds Blade on vocals, Alx on bass, and Zteff on the drums. Y remains on guitar and that makes sense since he started the group and leads its course into the future. Their newest release is World Domination and I'll be honest it's my first go round on the band yet I like what I am hearing very much on a number of tunes. The band has a classic Hard Rock meets Glam Rock sound that offers some homage to the bands of the eighties and we find this especially on tracks like "Too Far Down" as Blade takes us through a very apparent audience participation type of chorus. The band also seems to possess enough of the necessary Sleaze Rock factor that we found so appealing about old Motley Crue and that could work for them since the scene has not been addressing bands of this type all that much anymore. There is a ton of Power Metal and darker stuff but the good old sound of Traditional Hard Rock needs a jump start and perhaps Fatal Smile can be the ones behind this. There is a great look to the group as well and it reminded me of back in the day when groups like this were on the covers of the music magazines and everyone had posters of them hanging in their rooms or school lockers. The guys rock their way through a solidly produced album that was the work of none other than the legendary Michael Wagener, a producer whose credits are too numerous to list in a single review so you know this one sounds good. Winners include the bands own name track "Fatal Smile" since it has a cool groove and upbeat chorus and "Out Of My Head" which at times had me thinking of David Coverdale based on the phrasing that Blade was doing. He hits some highs as well but it is nothing like the soaring notes of the legendary Brit. Y gets some nice stuff happening with his riffing and while he shows some nice lead work the tunes seem to be more about building a steady and consistent groove than about technical axe wizardry.
I know if you long for some of that Traditional Metal that this is one of the bands that you should be looking into because there is enough stuff presented to serve your needs. The group just recently performed with Doro and WASP as direct support so you know they made some friends in those crowds and probably worked well within the context of those shows. Will this release be true "World Domination" for Fatal Smile, well it is too early to tell but above all things I think that they will surely prove entertaining.
Track Listing
1. S.O.B.
2. Stranger
3. Primed And Ready
4. Too Far Down
5. No Tomorrow
6. Out Of My Head
7. Run For Your Life
8. Fatal Smile
9. Straight To Hell
10. Eve Of War
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