The debut release from Swedish melodic metal band Fans of The Dark was a genuine mixed bag. Conceptually, it tried to hard to link horror narratives with metal-based tunes, but some of the vocals were terrible, and the least said about the artwork, the better. Some of the material was distinctly average and yet, despite almost everything, it had something that showed promise. For those willing to persevere and make it past those heavily accented, really dated vocals, the seemingly ropey album actually hid three very strong tunes which combined chopping guitar lines, some muscular bass and a couple of big choruses. It suggested that – despite almost everything – Fans of The Dark might just be harbouring some talent. They just hid it very well.
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FANS OF THE DARK – Fans Of The Dark
There’s an old saying that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Luckily for Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, the same is true of album sleeves, and there’s many a good tune hidden behind an ugly piece of art. Fortunately, this also sort of applies to Sweden’s Fans of The Dark. They’ve saddled themselves with a bad band name, cheap looking logo, and sleeve art depicting a Gollum-tortoise hybrid with car headlights for eyes, but despite that, their debut LP is home to a trilogy of fairly decent melodic rock/melodic metal tunes. These are tunes that would definitely go unheard if we were going solely upon appearances. The album also includes a couple of genuine clunkers, so you could definitely call it a mixed bag, if you were feeling polite.