Lionville is the brainchild of Stefano Lionetti. Stefano is an Italian guitar virtuoso. He recruited Swedish vocalist, Lars Säfsund to create a band built around their songwriting skills. The current Lionville line-up also consists of Michele Cusato on guitars, Giulio Dagnino on bass, and Martino Malacrida handling Drums and percussion. The band has been around since 2010 and this is their third album, the first with Serafino Perugino‘s Frontiers Music Srl label.
The opening track, “I Will Wait”, is hands down the catchiest track on the album. It pops into my mind at least once a day since I started reviewing the album. The next two tracks, “Show Me the Love” and “Bring Me Back Our Love”, are solid mid-tempo tracks. Another surprise for me was how much keyboards is on the album. Many of the tracks have keyboard and guitar solo. While that usually bothers me to have a lot of keyboards, (it usually is the biggest turn off for me with melodic rock) but I liked how well the keyboards complemented the guitar work. The solo on “Show Me the Love” was particularly enjoyable.
The obligatory ballad, “Heaven is Right Here”, comes in at the track four slot. It seems every album I’ve listened to lately if they are going to have a ballad, throws it in in this place on the album. The song is decent for a ballad but I’m very critical of ballads. I was pleasantly surprised there weren’t more ballads on the album, as they seem to be plentiful with melodic rock acts.
“A World of Fools”, the title track, is up next and it is a bit more dramatic than the previous tracks. The tracks are all very up tempo with uplifting romantic lyrics which can get a little bland but the music throughout the album has enough interest to compensate for the lack of thematic diversity. “One More Night” is a strange standout on the album. In the middle of the track, there is this piano solo that comes right out of an adult contemporary song with a jazzy feel. It breaks the flow of the track and leaves my head scratching. Otherwise, it’s another solid track.
Now we are in the back half of the album and the tempo comes back with “All I Want”. The riff on this track is catchy and the chorus is equally catchy. There was a really cool bass fill in the second verse. The next track, “Livin’ On the Edge” is a pretty average track. It’s probably the weakest in my mind simply because it just feels the most filler of all the tracks.
I think Lionetti handles some lead vocals on a couple of the tracks. I honestly couldn’t tell which ones were his versus Säfsund. I think one of those tracks might be “Our Good Goodbye”. The track has a little latin vibe to it with lots of backing vocal harmonies. The album closes out with “Paradise” and “Image of Your Soul”. “Paradise” has a driving groove with another stellar chorus and
“Image of Your Soul” feels like a classic closer in the veins of “Sailing Seas” from Whitesnake‘s Slip of the Tongue or “Anybody Listening?” from Queensrÿche‘s Empire, only with more saccharine lyrical themes.
I gotta say that I was really surprised by how much I really liked this album. Lionetti, Säfsund, and crew put together a batch of great melodic rock tracks. Too often with current melodic rock bands, you can almost call out the classic rock tracks the bands are referencing. The tracks feel familiar while not being derivative. Stefano masterfully lays down blazing riffs throughout the whole album. The rest of the band seem equally adept. You can tell Säfsund has a strong vocal range but he rarely goes overboard. If you are a big AOR/Melodic Rock fan, Lionville – World of Fools is a great pick.
