Wonderland

yes, Wonderland are yet another symphonic power metal act from Italy. Are they good enough to be worth your time?...well..this depends. If you like your metal very melodic, then this may be your cup of tea. There is not alot of occurances of very distorted guitars here and the vocals are high, effeminate, and a little different from what a power metal fan may be used to. I just have to complain about his lack of range....he does have a decent voice however

so what does this sound like? To put it bluntly..like a cross between Angra and Labyrinth. To talk about it further.. guitars are the most prominent feature, as they are very melodic with little distortion and the soloing is virtuistic in use of scales. The keyboards when used correctly, accentuate the dreamy atmosphere of the lead guitar. Actually, most of the songs begin with light keyboards that kick into clean melodic guitar passages. And no, theres not alot of Helloween-ish palm muting.
About the production, yes....the dreaded underproduction that so many Italian bands have when they decide that its okay to produce your own album. The production sometimes makes the keyboards sound too distant and non fitting, and the bass a little weak sounding. Not a huge blunder but a blunder nonetheless. Other elements.......the vocals...if you can stand Geddy Lee of Rush, then you can stand this guy. If you hate Geddy Lee's vocals then dont bother with this band.

The bass you'd think would be better, but its not...its standard for a power metal band. The bassist tries to be some kind of virtuoso but fails when his bass sounds more like an acoustic guitar than a bass. The drums are the same fast double bass we're all used to with the occasional Frank Andiver trademark of fast snare rhythms.
The songs are all fast paced except for a few. And a couple have the usual galloping power metal style that Rhapsody has already prettymuch trademarked. Reason to buy the album? Number one: "Summer Waiting". This song is in the vein of Labyrinth's song "Falling Rain"...This song is also one touching ballad in acoustic format. The chorus is in singalong raise your lighter mode. And then we have some melodic lead guitar sololing in front of the soothing keyboards, that only intensify the emotional vocals and feeling of the song. Other standouts include "Nothing's Left to Say", (the most accessible song because of the powerful and memorable chorus) and "Hello" (which is a cover of the Lionel Ritchie ballad from the 80's)

Overall, this album is nothing new. Its also probable that alot of metalheads will dub this flower metal, as theres hardly anything "heavy" anywhere to be found...especially because of all the 80's pop sounding keyboards. There is however a display of emotion in most of the songs despite the effemiate vocals, and the ideas are usually interesting despite being very sappy and keyboard saturated in some places. Maybe 6 or 7 of the 10 songs are very good, melodic and listenable (despite being cheesy) and I'll give it that....the rest is melodramatic but substance-less filler.