This is the debut album of French band
Fairyland, formed in 1998 by drummer
Willdric Lievin and keyboarder
Philippe Giordana. The style is symphonic power metal with female vocals by
Dark Moor singer
Elisa C. Martin.
The first thing I noticed about
Fairyland before I heard the cd was that their singer was
Elisa C. Martin from
Dark Moor who I am a big fan of. Especially her vocals on their latest cd
The Gates of Oblivion were impressive so I expected a lot from her performance on
Fairyland's new cd.
First impression is that the cd is very symphonic and very keyboardbased. There are plenty of very good guitar solos performed by
Anthony Parker who also plays a nice rythm guitar but overall the sound is dominated by the keyboards. Even though metal traditionally has the guitars up more in front,
Fairyland pulls it off very nicely having the guitars play a more background role. Letting the keyboards be so much in front is part of what creates the very symphonic sound they have.
The male choirs also add a nice touch and makes a good contrast to Elisa's voice. A comparison to Italian
Rhapsody is easy to make. As many other metal bands from the south of Europe,
Fairyland has obviousy been inspired by them but still manage to make a sound that is their own. Unfortunately there are no lyrics with this promo cd so I can't say if their texts are intelligent or if they are as silly as some other bands' lyrics in this genre.
One thing they have in common with
Rhapsody is the narration. Now I like narration when it's done well. When it's not done well, I get a strange feeling in my stomach.
Fairyland's is bearable but not more than that. For Christ's sake, get a real actor to do this, preferably a British one. Don't tell me that it is too expensive to hire an actor to talk for about 5 minutes! And English is not even my first language so I can only imagine what English speaking people feel when they hear it again and again on a cd. Luckily the talking is not very high in the mix and there isn't so much of it so it doesn't bother me that much. I once again refer to
Blind Guardian's
Nightfall in Middle-Earth as an example of how well narration can be done.
The songs are well-composed with good melodies both in the vocals and also in the keyboards that are always there. Very often there are parts with the keyboards taking over playing complex layered melodies. Keyboard player
Philippe Giordana certainly knows how to create interresting melodies often sounding like the symphonic parts of
Symphony X or
Dark Moor. A song like
The Army of the White Mountains is a good example of this. It is an instrumental 6-minutes song with nothing but keyboards and some background drums. This song has a sound that reminds me a lot of filmmusic, several voices at the same time creating complex structures but always with a beautiful melody that goes from instrument to instrument. Very beautiful and epic-sounding song.
Back to the vocals of Elisa. Her voice just got better and better for every album
Dark Moor put out so I am sad to say that now she has taken a step back. Her Spanish accent is more obvious and the vocal lines are not sung as precise on
Of Wars In Osyrhia as on
The Gates of Oblivion. However I still claim that she has one of the most unique and strong voices of the female singers in metal. I hope that on her next album she will work a little more with the vocal lines to get them perfect. Elisa has a very beautiful voice and i expect a lot from her in the future since I know what she is capable of.
Fairyland recorded
Of Wars in Osyrhia by themselves and the production is OK. The vocals is a part that could have been better, it seems to me that some clarity is missing here but overall the sound is good.
There have been a lot of
Rhapsody clones lately, some good and some bad. Now that I have heard
Of Wars In Osyrhia I still say that they have a lot of things in common with
Rhapsody but I wouldn't call
Fairyland a
Rhapsody clone. They have proven that they have a sound of their own which I really like and I am looking very much forward to their next cd to see what they can grow into. Symphonic power metal of this caliber is not something that you see every day. Few bands manage to put out so good debut albums so I will say that
Fairyland has a very promising future. Fans of
Rhapsody and
Dark Moor should check this album out but also fans of other power metal genres should give it a listen. A truly excellent album.
Written by
Tajs Sunday, April 13, 2003
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