At a time when Swedish hard rock is undergoing a rebirth of sorts, many bands are staking their claim to a piece of the action. Stockholm’s Fatal Smile have more to offer than most and are only too happy to prove that to anybody prepared to listen…

Formed in 1995 by guitarist Y following his arrival in Stockholm from his home town of Katrineholm, he wasted no time in putting together the band along with the bass player Markus Johansson and vocalist H.B. Anderson, both of whom had recently arrived in Stockholm themselves also intent on furthering their musical careers.

In no time at all, songs were written, shows were being played, a deal with Swedish label GMR Music was in place and in 2002 the debut album ‘Beyond Reality’ was in stores. Produced by Jonas Östman (Yngwie Malmsteen, Glory) the reaction worldwide was incredibly positive!

Off the back of this excellent media attention, the band hit the road again on a mixture of headline shows, support slots and festival appearances topped off by a slot at the coveted New Jersey Metal Meltdown festival in 2003 that was deemed such a sucess that the band were booked back into the States for a three week headlining tour that took them from Florida up to New Jersey, playing 16 shows in 21 days!

The band’s triumphant return to Sweden saw them hook up with  drummer Tomas Lindgren, who had himself just returned from the States — in his case LA! — to begin writing songs for album number two. ’Neo Natural Freaks’ was again produced by Jonas Östman and mixed by Stefan Glaumann, famed for his work with teutonic terrors Rammstein and Stockholm’s own glam punk behemoths Backyard Babies.

Fatal Smile released the first fruits of these labours in December -05 with the single and video for “Learn - Love - Hate” that went straight up to number 6 at the Swedish charts and stayed on top 20 for 4 weeks and peaked at number 3 as the highest position.

The album ‘Neo Natural Freaks’ was released in Europe in February 2006 followed by a Japanese release in Mars and finally US release in February 2007.

The band toured in Europe with W.A.S.P. and Winger during the fall 2006 and in Feb/Mars 2007 they toured in Japan with a huge success!

Forget what you think you know about hard rock in 2007. Whatever you think you know is redundant. Fatal Smile have made it so. Influenced by the sounds they grew up with but not dictated to by them, theirs is a sound that takes rock in new directions whilst always having one eye on home. Comforting yet exciting, dangerous yet strangely familiar. Not afraid to bend the rules of the game should the need arise, one day all band’s will be made in this image….

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It’s always great to hear bands that stay true to the melodic metal formula, and most of you who read my material probably know that traditional metal & AOR/melodic rock are a personally addicting ear candy to the aural senses; so nevertheless Sweden’s Fatal Smile unleashes an offering of heavy melodic metal that satisfies the appetite for anyone who has the sweet tooth for that classic metal sound that has enjoyed a much deserved rebirth in the recent years.

They put all the right elements in place, being straightforward in their all out guitar-oriented approach mixing the sounds of Scorpions , Vengeance , Sabbath , late-period Primal Fear , and At Vance . You’ve got hard driving numbers such as “ Dead Man Walking ,” “ Crash & Burn ,” “ Common People ” and the title track that set the tone for the record as being fairly straightforward and riff driven; but there are some detours like the dark Black Label-ish “ Quiet Chaos ” and the King’s X reminiscent “ Color Blind ” where they mix up some different musical tastes here and there, but otherwise, the record rocks with a grinding groove.

Neo Natural Freaks is an album you can raise your fist in your air and bang you head to; there’s no double bass or use of keyboards that often get in the way of what matters, which is pure adrenaline driven heavy metal, and that is what Fatal Smile brings to the table.

- Tommy Hash (Ytsejam.com)

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Powerful heavy rock from a bunch of nutters from Sweden.
Those of you who read my review of the CD's first single "Learn, Love, Hate" will know how I rate this lot. Fortunately that was not a rarity on this album, although it is the best track and certainly the most accessible.
This is catchy as f***, head-down, driving hard rock with attitude, pace, and style.
Listening to this ten-track CD, you just so want to see this lot live as soon as possible.
The title track is pretty damn impressive as well as stuff like "Practise what you Preach".

Vocally, while HB Anderson has his own style, at times he ventures in the Graham Bonnet-isms on "Common People" with a bit of Zakk Wylde doing Sabbath on "Quiet Chaos".
This gives the album a bit of variety. And the fact that he has a bloody good voice is welcome relief from all the rubbish singers out there.
The rest of the band aren't any slouches either, with enough oomph to satisfy even the most cynical of heavy rockers.

This lot do rather deserve to be huge, that is for damn sure.
As I have said before, this is what Brides of Destruction should have been — raw, heavy, melodic and catchy as stink .
This is certainly one of the best heavy rock albums of the year and strong contender for my album of the year. Hell, any album that got me ole' head twitching as much as this one is good in my book.

- Marty Dodge (Classic Rock)

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WORLD DOMINATION - 2008

S.O.B. - mp3
Primed & Ready - mp3
Out of  My Head - mp3
Run For Your Life - mp3

NEO NATURAL FREAKS - 2006

Neo Natural Freaks - mp3
Crash & Burn - mp3
Learn - Love - Hate - mp3
Common People - mp3

Fatal Smile Videos :

- S.O.B. (The Whisky in Hollywood, CA)

- Run For Your Life (Live TV4)

- Out Of My Head (Webster Theater)

- Neo Natural Freaks Live! (2006)

- Learn-Love-Hate (2005)

- Bad Kharma (2002)
 

Fatal Smile Official Website