Dare we say Fate Will Come creates vintage 80s heavy metal? The title track on the band’s Heavy Heart release borrows liberally from various classic metal bands from that era, including a riff structure much like many memorable Van Halen FM radio staples. The net effect is a group that sounds a bit like a band out of time. They just don’t make albums like this anymore. The singer screams, squeals and boogies her way through these seven tracks. The guitarist never stops doing the exact same thing – only with an electric guitar. You don’t realize how distinctive music from that era was, though, until you hear a ‘new’ album like this one. It just doesn’t sound like any modern music.
While hard-rocking riffing is the dominant tone of Heavy Heart, there is one softer selection. “Sleeping Destiny” applies a gentler approach to performing. Even so, though, the track also includes a big, power ballad-worthy electric guitar solo. The lead vocal is sung with a quiet, pretty tone, while the guitar accompaniment is far more finger picking than riffing.
– https://open.spotify.com/album/7IcQZpaZxLVgnCcn8SB8ec
One titled “Off The Wall” sounds to be inspired by punkier sounds, at least a little bit. The vocals are more like a vocal protest, than are your typical metal shout-out. Similarly, the beat for “D.N.A.,” with an altered lead vocal, might have also passed for a punk rock song. This punk/metal mixture is no great surprise. Many punk acts were originally inspired by the glorious noise of heavy metal. Punk rock took many of the same riffs, sped them up, subtracted lead guitar solos, and growled out the lead vocals. There was also something punk about many of the first metal bands. These were not the well-respected citizenry, Instead, there were just as many juvenile delinquents among metal’s first wave, as there were within the original punk rock crowd.
With “Silent Song,” Fate Will Come reveals some of its progressive rock inspirations. The song has a sort of spooky, epic-tale feel to it. The vocal gives the track a ‘listen up, this is important, vibe. The groove is slower, more thoughtful than what comes before and after it.
The album closes with “Whiskey Girl,” which opens with a jangling electric guitar part, before going into a riff worthy of heyday Def Leppard. It’s unclear who this whiskey girl is, whether it’s even a good or bad thing to be a whiskey girl.
If you’re old enough, Heavy Heart by Fate Will Come will fill you with moments of nostalgia. Then again, if you’re young enough, perhaps this project’s sound will be something totally foreign to you. The 80s, after all, were a long, long time ago. Might it be time for an 80s metal revival? Everything that goes around, comes around, after all and dudes with long hair wearing spandex are bound to come back in style eventually. No matter how you view this music (whether something old or something completely new), there’s no denying the skill applied to creating these seven songs. Maybe the band’s name says it best: Fate Will Come.
https://www.facebook.com/fwcome
-Dan MacIntosh
