Metalite is a Swedish power metal band from Stockholm, led by Edwin Premberg. They have released four albums for AFM Records.
History
Metalite is a band from Stockholm. Edwin Premberg (guitars) and Emma Bensing (vocals) met in 2015 and shared their ideas for a music band. The band was completed in 2016 with Lea Larsson (drums), Robert Örnesved (guitar), and Robert Majd (bass).
They sent a demo of the song "Afterlife" to Jacob Hansen, who became interested in the band and helped to mix it.[1] They signed a deal with Inner Wound Recording and released their first album, Heroes in Time, in October 2017.[2] Emma left the band in 2019, being replaced by Erica Ohlsson. Erica was a worker at the Wallmans Group and had never even heard heavy metal music, Edwin met her during a concert and proposed to her to be their new singer.[3] The band signed a new deal with AFM Records and released their second album, Biomechanicals.
All live shows and tours were canceled in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden. This included several concerts that the band had arranged, although some of them could be rushed and made before the lockdown.[3] The band switched to digital promotion and social media sites as a replacement, and saw an increase in their streamed music and viewed videos.[3] Besides that, they used the time to write new songs, practice and prepare future concerts. The band returned in 2022 with a concert at Ciudad Real, three years after their previous one.[4] Later in the year they played at the Sweden Rock Festival 2022., which was also closed in 2020 and 2021 because of the lockdowns.[4]
Drummer Lea Larsson broke her foot in 2023, so Joel Kollberg and Alfred Fridhagen temporarily replaced her in festivals.[4]
Expedition One, released in 2024, is a concept album set in 2055, about the space colonization of an exoplanet.[4] The theme of the album, which expands on ideas set in previous albums, was designed by Edwin Premberg.[1] Premberg also worked on the keyboards for the album, although the band has no plans to have a fixed keyboardist.[1] The album was preceded by four singles, "Disciples Of The Stars", "Blazing Skies", "New Generation", and "Aurora".[5] The singles were compiled into an EP with 6 tracks. Erica Ohlsson said that, given the success of AI-generated music, bands need to stay active and release new material frequently to get attention.[1] According to Ohlsson, the album was initially meant to have 14 songs, selected to fit the theme, but the studio asked to include the tracks "Take my hand" and "Hurricane", which proved popular. As a result, the album had 16 songs in total.[1]
After the release the band toured across Europe with Leaves' Eyes, Northtale and Catalyst Crime. The tour included their first visit to the UK, one of the intended tours cancelled by the COVID pandemic, and they visited the cities of Birmingham,[6] Glasgow, London, and Manchester.[6][7][8] Lea Larsson left the band, amid conflicts with the other members. Joel Kollberg temporarily replaced her again during the tour, but the band is not considering him a permanent replacement. He is the drummer of Majestica, he would not be able to play in two bands, and Metalite refuses to deprive the band of their drummer.[3]
