Fall of an Empire

Returning from an extended sabbatical that saw most of the band's lineup turn over, French prog metal outfit Fairyland return with their most symphonic album yet. Opening with a blatant Carmina Burana ripoff intro track called "Endgame" (which reappears in various guises thrice more over the course of the album, like it's a recurrent theme in the Lord of the Rings soundtracks or something), Fall of an Empire sounds like some kind of ill-conceived cross between lightweight '80s poodle metal (both of the male vocalists sound like they should be singing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" in front of a local cover band) and the worst, most Rick Wakeman-like excesses of '70s prog: conceptual lyrics furthering a basically incomprehensible storyline, lifts of classical motifs so blatant they would make Keith Emerson himself roll his eyes, and an overall stench of self-seriousness rarely found outside of small circles of Ayn Rand readers and/or Rush fans. Those who don't fall into either of those categories would probably find Fall of an Empire inadvertently hilarious, but somewhere out there is a guy who lives in his mom's basement and works part-time at the local comic store who's going to think this is the best album ever.