Description

Still sealed digipak

Seven Swedish dudes with an age ranging from 16 to 21 playing light neo-classical melodic power metal just as they’ve never done anything else. On Secrets Of Life, Platitude display technical skill, the ability to write strong material and strangely enough regarding their young age maturity. The band exist since 1995 and consist of more or less the same members since 1997. During those first few years, they’ve released three demos (and an independent live recording). None of those got much acclaim outside of the Scandinavian countries. Nevertheless, Danish management agency Intromental scooped them up two years ago and started shopping for a deal for their new band. Scarlet Records were all there from the moment they heard about the talented bunch and offered them a deal in the spring of 2002. A couple of months later, time was reserved in Tommy Hansens Jailhouse Studios (Helloween, Pretty Maids, etc.) to record a debut album. Signing Platitude is one of the best things the Scarlet people did up till now. They’re clearly working on becoming one of the better metal labels around as they caught more big fishes recently with Italian progressive metal hopes DGM amongst others. In fact, Italy seems to be built on fertile ground as Frontiers Records are based there as well. The freshness and quality of Secrets Of Life remind me of debut albums by other promising melodic metal acts like Sonata Arctica, Supreme Majesty and more recently Thunderstone. Tommy Hansen once again did a great job creating a big sound for the melodic and powerful stuff on this platter. Theres not a single piece on it that bores the listener, which is very rare in this genre this days. Besides, Platitude have the luck to be fronted by a great vocalist. Erik Blomkvist has an incredible range and although his voice suits the songs very well, hes definitely not your typical high-pitched power metal screamer. Listen to songs like the fast rocking Dance Thru The Fire or ballad Memories, just two of the tracks that stand out. The others deserving a place on that list are Anima, Last Sunset, Raining Tears and Illusions. Remarkable about the band line up is that its made up of amongst others two guitar players (Daniel Hall and Gustav Kollerstrom) and two keyboard players (Andreas Lindahl and Tommie Lundgren). A combination that Ive honestly never seen, but proves its right on this album. Its strange that Secrets Of Life is not being released on a major label, because Platitude definitely deserve a place on the list of newcomers of 2003. Dont let this band lay aside if youre into melodic, power and/or neo-classical metal. I look forward to hearing more of them!

Track list:
1. Deception
2. Just One Try
3. Dance Thru The Fire
4. Memories
5. Anima
6. Last Sunset
7. Raining Tears
8. Secrets Of Life
9. Illusions
10. Evil Sky