FATE
The band was formed in late '84 in Copenhagen by Hank Sherman who left Mercyful Fate and got together with Jeff "Lox" Limbo (a.k.a. Jens Meiner), Bob Lance (a.k.a. Bjarne Holm) and Pete Steiner (a.k.a. Peter Steincke). Shortly thereafter demo songs were recorded, and a few weeks later Fate actually got their first record deal with Danish EMI! The self-titled debut album from 1985 was a neat mixture of rock/ metal with a strong melodic touch. ( Love on the Rocks / Devil Inside / Fallen Angel ). Originally heralded by the press and fans worldwide as the Danish version of Van Halen (first and foremost due to Limbo's stage appearance), the band rocketed into success with the self-titled debut album becoming quite a classic on it's own among the hard rock/ AOR/ melodic metal fans. A Matter Of Attitude was released a year later. The band shot a video for the first single "Wont Stop" and also "Loosing You" and "Summerlove" are highly rated among fans even today. Fate established their success, and gained even more fans. However, 1988 saw the first line-up change in the history of Fate, as Hank Sherman left the band, and the guys had to find a new guitarist to fill the vacant spot. Enter The Mysterious Mr. Moth (a.k.a. Jacob Moth). Output number 3 was the "Cruisin' For A Bruisin'" album, which was less of a serious album, songs became lighter and more rock 'n' rollish, more in the vein of the albums David Lee Roth were putting out at that time, in other words, an album fitted perfectly at Limbo's voice and stage antics. The band then toured Europe with Yngwie Malmsteen. With "Scratch N Sniff" in 1990, the guys had returned to the same ballsy sound as on the first 2 albums, but also ventured a step further to becoming a more mature and serious band. This was due to 2 major changes; Limbo was out of the band and new singer Per Henriksen (a.k.a. Per Johansson) took the place as frontman with bravour. Per's voice was made for this kind of music, and his input on the sound of "Scratch N Sniff" was tremendous. Also, this album featured the huge talents of Swedish guitarist Mattias "IA" Eklundh, a young dude, who'd later shoot to stardom with his own band Freak Kitchen. Yes, the sound of Fate was intact, but also more daring and adventurous than ever before. With Tommy Hansen producing the album, they earned a Danish Grammy Nomination. The band then toured Germany with Axxis. After several tours in 1990/91, on their own, as well as with Danish colleges Pretty Maids, Fate and Mattias parted ways. Fate then found a new guitarist in local talent Søren Hoff, and they did a couple of demo's and gigs with this line-up, before the band officially closed down in 1993. In 2006 Fate put out "V". After getting together attending the prestigious Deep Impact Festival in Germany in 2005 with drummer Rasmus Duedahl and keyboardist Nicklas Burman and the old albums remastered and rereleased with additional bonus tracks by MTM Music, who licensed the old albums from EMI, the band got so inspired by good response from fans and media that they decided to do a new album. Years had passed where band members pursued other things, but now Per, Peter and the new guitar player Søren Hoff and Swedish drummer Mikael Kvist (from Swedish prog-metal band Elsesphere) went back in the studio, again with Tommy Hansen, "Butterfly" and "Toxic" really showed the bands new potential..In 2008 Jens Berglid (Black Succubi / Iron Fire) drums and Mikkel Henderson (Circus Mind / Evil Masquerade) keyboard joined the band and FATE played gigs and festivals over the summer and prepared for the new album, when Per decided to leave the band and Dagfinn Joensen from the Faroe Islands took over the role as lead singer.