Listen, when it comes to power metal, like my porn tastes, I have very specific, odd niches that I enjoy. For some reason, I skip right past the ‘normal’ power metal like Primal Fear, Firewind, Hammerfall, Iced Earth and such and dive headfirst in with unfettered glee into the uber cheesiest, symphonic cosplay-loving, LARPing, cape-wearing realms of pure D & D, high fantasy bands like Twilight Force, Rhapsody, Victorius, Grailknights, Dragony, Gloryhammer,Majestica and such.

Enter the UK’s Fellowship, a newcomer to the genre with current and former members of Power Force and Rezinwolf, and a promising newcomer to the genre. And along with fellow, similarly cheesily fun brits Grimgotts, show the UK can roll a 20 and unleash the +5 puffy shirt of catchy choruses and be just as good as their Mainland Europe brethren.

From the opening twinkle of opener “Until the Fire Dies”, (as well as their promo photos and the above video) it’s 100% clear that Twilight Force is the primary influence here, and they are having a lot of fun with it. This is sparkling, light-hearted, uplifting power metal with lots of shredding, keyboards, and sugary choruses that will get in your head from one listen.

The guitars of Sam Browne Guitars and brad Wosko are front and center with lots and lots of extended bouncy leads and vocalist Matthew Corry, despite looking like the cool social studies professor you see at the coffees shop, has a unique set of pipes that alternates between a bit nasally for me, to really impressive when he truly belts something out (i.e “Glint”, “The Hours of Wintertime”). The keyboards are there and certainly a focal part of the music, but it’s not quite full-on choral or orchestral bombast like some of their peers.

The album’s 1 hour run time is a bit long, especially in the latter stages and it’s not all great, but along the way, the band hit on some truly infectious stuff like the aforementioned opener,  “Glory Days”, shred heavy “Oak & Ash”, the super goddam uplifting anthem of “Hearts Upon the Hill”, “Glint’, and gloriously uplifting “The Saint Beyond the River” which all absolutely got my heart soaring and my soul grinning. Or course there are slightly more restrained but still uplifting AOR/Prog numbers (“Atlas”, “The Hours of Wintertime”, “Still Enough”, closer “Avalon”) as well, and the requisite lighter waving ballad in “Silhouette”.

Now, where Fellowship is a shade different than their peers, is that rather than stories of high elves, wizards and questing, the overarching themes are positivity, mental health, and well-being, and a general sense of uplifting motivational amicability that’s infectious, and certainly in these dire times, a beacon of light we could all use right now.

[Visit the band's website]

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