RAMzine caught up with Metalite who are currently touring with Leaves’ Eyes across Europe. Making their UK debut, the Stockholm power metal group were eager to make their mark and leave a lasting first impression in Manchester.
RAMzine: This is your first time touring the UK and you’ve been to Birmingham, Glasgow and London. You’re stopping off in Manchester and this is your final destination. So what could you tell us then about your experience with UK fans?
Metalite: Really good. We love the audience in the UK and are very happy. We were supposed to be here during the pandemic but we had to cancel that tour so we are happy that we finally got here. The experience of the audience and all the venues is good with positive feedback, and lots of love from the fans and we just can’t wait to come back and play longer sets.
RAMzine: You’re going to be opening for Leaves’ Eyes this evening and you’re band number two on the bill. For those who might not know you, how would you introduce yourselves to fans who would like to know you more?
Metalite: I think we’re a modern metal band that have a lot of influences from the 90s and 20th century so a lot of Euro-pop/dance together with energetic, heavy guitars and soaring vocals. You can both dance and headbang to our songs. Someone once described us as “a happy pill” so he always listens to Metalite when he’s down and then he gets happy again.
RAMzine: A lot of fans interpret your style as being cinematic as your music has a lot of sci-fi effects and feelings of adventures in space. Would you think then that that’s a fair way of describing your sound?
Metalite: From the beginning, the first album had this kind of theme and now with the fourth album that we wanted to do as a concept with a story behind it, I’m really happy that people described us this way because that’s the meaning of the music.
RAMzine: You guys launched Expedition One in January. What are your thoughts on how it’s been received?
Metalite: The reviews are good and this was our first concept album so I think it has been very well-received. We have gone up a level for each album and we hope that it’ll be the same for the future. We’re really happy about it.
RAMzine: Edwin, when Expedition One was released, I remember that you mentioned that humans like to ‘permanently go for the easy way out’ of things. Could you then tell us how applicable this could be in the world that we currently live in?
Metalite: We’re living in a world where AI is doing a lot of things for us and sometimes it’s not positive. It can always do it both ways so that’s why I did this story.
RAMzine: One of your songs ‘Blazing Skies’ describes how a paradise once became uninhabitable. If humans then were to continue life on this other planet that you often mention in your album, do you think that we then would have maybe learned these lessons and created a brighter future for a new civilization?
Metalite: We always have to learn the lessons of our behaviour but maybe we will find that out on the next album. Who is to say human beings didn’t come to Earth 300,000 years ago and fled from their AI on their planet so let’s see the upcoming continued story on this concept album. Then you will know the answer.
RAMzine: Your song ‘New Generation’ puts an emphasis on how the youngsters are the ones that can make the biggest differences to the world. In your opinion, how do you see the younger generations as a glimmer of hope to turn things around before it’s too late?
Metalite: It has a positive vibe to it because we need the youngsters to take care of what we have put together here so I have hope and am optimistic about the future. We can also see in the world right now that the youngsters are more rebellious and old people are affected by their nostalgia in the way they grew up. That can affect how they see the future whereas young people who have their whole lives ahead of themselves may find it easier to find the right path so to speak. If you’re older and on the wrong track, it’s more difficult to change so that’s why you have more hope in the younger generation. In Sweden, there’s a saying that it’s hard to teach an old dog to sit and that’s how norms work. You adapt and young people create a new reality which is very encouraging.
RAMzine: Our last question about Expedition One is to do with ‘Hurricane’ which covers the topics of resilience, something that we desperately need in the current world we live in. How do you see it within the metal community and its future?
Metalite: If you’ve been playing metal for a long time, the music changes, a new band comes with their own sounds and there’s always some resistance until people just adapt. When you create new stuff, it’s always a hassle before it becomes the norm.
RAMzine: Knowing how vibrant the metal scene is in Sweden, what do you think are the ingredients to keep this machine constantly going?
Metalite: The metal business releases a lot of vinyls for example. We keep in touch with our fans. The fans are also very faithful to the bands that they like and this is very different from the other music genres like pop where you forget about it in 3 months. In metal it doesn’t really work like that and in Sweden we have state sponsors who help to pay the rent for your rehearsal space. They’re getting less money now which might affect the future of metal coming from Sweden but at the moment, it’s still strong and I think all the new bands or old bands inspire new bands. It’s like the opposite of a vicious circle.
Also, I think we’re pretty happy to be in the metal scene because metal has the best fans in the world and you go to Wacken in Germany where there’s 80,000 of them. Some die-hard fans even go as far as carving a band’s name into their own skin.
RAMzine: Thank you very much for taking part in this interview. I wish you all well and have a great show.
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