Lionville
Magic is Alive

Here at Hallowed we have written about every Lionville album released; the Italian band fronted by Swede Lars has done four albums if you count this one. The debut arrived in 2011 and was released on Avenue of Allies and the last two have been released on Frontiers. This new one is called Magic is Alive and has the best-looking artwork of any album by Lionville, the same could have been said about the predecessor as well, an album that was the worst they had done yet. So, what about this one? Does it offer any magic?

I could claim that it offers something artistic and fresh, but it wouldn’t be true. It is the same kind of AOR that we have gotten from all the previous releases. Catchy, melodic with strong choruses as the focal point. High-pitched vocals from a classic AOR vocalist, excellent sound, the expected selection of songs for an album in the AOR genre. There are no surprises here, I think that some would look upon it as a paint by numbers kind of album, because that is about how it feels to listen to it. It is rather predictable and if you are searching for novelty you have to look elsewhere.

The opening track Nothing Without You sets a good tone to begin with, it is a kind of great song that gives expectations for the rest of the album. Those expectations are unfortunately not realised later on as none of the coming tracks are as good, or as ear-catching. When listening I found that I asked myself; doesn’t the music feel a bit tired and soulless? Doesn’t singer Lars sound a bit tired and soulless? And after listening some more I found that the answer was yes to both these questions. They seem to have gone for ticking the boxes rather than giving life to their own ideas and dreams, there is no magic here just solid craftsmanship. It is like a well renovated bathroom, functional, perhaps even giving some positive emotion but nothing that makes you warm inside, nothing that cheers you up when you are down.

This probably goes down well with much of the AOR crowd, it ticks the boxes. I find Magic is Alive to be too good to scorn but too poor to praise, it is one of those in between. It is good enough to listen to and enjoy for a while but not good enough to leave a lasting impression, and it has me wondering if Lionville already has done the maximum of interesting albums that they can do as they are more or less the same all of them and for each one it becomes less and less relevant. Magic is Alive is a really good album if you look at it as a standalone thing but considering where it stands in relation to everything else it becomes much less interesting.

HHHHHHH