Fellowship – The Saberlight Chronicles

Fellowship
The Saberlight Chronicles
Scarlet Records
Out: July 15^th, 2022
Playing time: 01:04:29

Fellowship are a new band from the UK, formed in 2019. One year later, the first self-titled EP was released. After two singles, the debut album “The Saberlight Chronicles” is now on the record shelves. Started as a five-piece band, they obviously had to accept their first loss this year, bassist Daniel Ackerman has left the band. According to the press release, the musicians are in the tradition of bands like Twilight Force, Rhapsody and Majestica. “The Saberlight Trios” is a fantasy concept album.

Metal has never felt so good!

Those are strong words. But already the opener “Until The Fires Die” documents the great joy of experimentation. I can’t remember ever hearing a xylophone in a Metal song. Yes, and the melody that starts afterwards, including the vocals, would fit perfectly into the Rhapsody universe. Damn close to commercialism. This continues with “Atlas”. The vocals and the drums dominate. In the background you can hear the synths, but a little less cheesy than with other genre comrades. The guitars only push themselves into the foreground a bit during the solos. What is noticeable is that there are not so many bombastic intros and outros in the individual songs: however, they are not completely missing. Thus, “Glory Days” is introduced orchestrally. Otherwise, not much new, but well-made Soundtrack Metal. Especially the guitarists can shine again and again. “Oak And Ash” then goes into the high-speed area. With a beautiful and melodic sing-along chorus. Calmer but hymn-like is “Hearts Upon The Hill”, but the hectic synth passages bother me a bit. They don’t really fit in with the rest of the song. “Scars And Shrapnel Wounds” almost drifts into pop realms. The piano introduction to “The Hours of Wintertime” is an interesting touch of colour. After a while the songs become predictable, like “Glint”, “The Saint Beyond The River” or “Still Enough”. Only the sugar-sweet ballad “Silhouette” offers some variety. Even the nine-and-a-half-minute bouncer “Avalon” fits seamlessly into the musical scheme.

First of all, I can confirm that the aforementioned bands were the inspiration for the compositions. “The Saberlight Chronicles” sounds very “Italian”, but not quite as cheesy as many of the Rhapsody works. The footsteps of these bands are still oversized and cannot yet be completely filled by Fellowship. But the Brits are preparing to become the successors of the genre greats. But Metal has certainly often felt better.

Fellowship – Glory Days (Official Lyric Video): https://youtu.be/eOSW95OsiaY

Lineup:

Matthew Corry – Vocals
Sam Browne – Guitar
Brad Wosko – Guitar
Callum Tuffen – Drums

Track list:

• Until The Fires Die
• Atlas
• Glory Days
• Oak And Ash
• Hearts Upon The Hill
• Scars And Shrapnel Wounds
• The Hours of Wintertime
• Glint
• The Saint Beyond The River
• Silhouette
• Still Enough
• Avalon