FAIRYLAND

Fairyland were initially known as a French band formed in 1998 but ‘Score To A New Beginning’ is original member and keyboard player Phillipe Giordana's first album under the name as a solo project with contributions by many guest musicians from French bands Anthropia, Benighted Soul, Hamka, Heavenly, Kerion, Razordog and Whyzdom, Italian bands such as Pathosray, Revoltons and Syrayde plus Norwegian band Serenity. ‘Score To A New Beginning’, Fairyland's 3rd album, excluding an early demo, is an immediately impressive release, which at its peak is grandiose, majestic and dynamic with power and symphonic metal as its main influences. The awesome musicianship and production are nothing short of breathtaking. ‘Opening Credits’ is a huge orchestral piece and makes for a pleasing start. ‘Across The Endless Sea (Part II)’ and ‘Assault On The Shore’ are excellent dramatic power metal tracks, both showing off the vocal talents of Marco Sandron (Pathosray), whose voice is in the vein of Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica). The impressive Sandron provides much of the lead vocals on this album. The intro to ‘Master Of The Waves’ is a return to the orchestral theme before going into a full blown Kamelot-esque tour de force. The synth solo featured is classic retro prog reminding me of early Marillion. The excellent ‘A Soldier's Letter’ is a softer track and can best be described as a power metal ballad. It is built around a classical sounding piano and possesses a powerful multi-layered chorus. The awesome ‘At The Gates Of Morken’ kicks off with stunning retro-prog synth lines before breaking into full on power metal. Once again, the soaring lead vocals of Sandron and the operatic female backing vocals greatly impress. ‘Rise Of The Giants’, which sounds like a perfect score for an epic movie, is another superbly performed, overblown orchestral piece of music. The title track is a near 9 minute folky influenced power metal epic that sounds a little bit disjointed at first but does improve with repeated listens. The track features all the elements of the previous tracks such as the Sonata Arctica/Kamelot influences, retro prog synths, multi-layered vocals but also the fine voice of Klaaire (Syrayde). The final track, fittingly titled ‘End Credits’, is a somewhat uninteresting folk ballad in the vein of Blackmore's Night with the Candice Night esque Flora Spinelli (Kerion) failing to really impress. This proves to be a disappointing and mediocre climax to a very strong album. Giordana, under the name Fairyland, can be justifiably proud of the ideas and delivery evident on ‘Score To A New Beginning’. His choice of guest musicians has been inspired with many of them making valuable contributions. Although this is by no means a perfect album, I can strongly recommended it for fans of adventurous, progressive, powerful, symphonic metal.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Napalm Records

Album

SCORE TO A NEW BEGINNING

Review by Dave Crewe

RUNNING TIME:

49:47

RELEASE DATE:

4th May 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) Opening Credits
2) Across the Endless Sea (Part II)
3) Assault on the Shore
4) Master of the Waves
5) A Soldier's Letter
6) Godsent
7) At the Gates of Morken
8) Rise of the Giants
9) Score to a New Beginning
10) End Credits

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

France

"...an immediately impressive release, which at its peak is grandiose, majestic and dynamic with power and symphonic metal as its main influences."