X-Panda - Flight Of Fancy review
| Band: | X-Panda |
| Album: | Flight Of Fancy |
| Style: | Jazz fusion, Progressive metal |
| Release date: | September 30, 2011 |
| A review by: | Milena |
01. Intro
02. Black
03. Dickybirds
04. Flight Of Fancy
05. Siren
06. Journey Of A Dream
07. Keyboard Solo
08. Rhythm Department
09. Calm Waters
10. Crystal Gazing
11. Revelation
Our contemporary obsession with speed has claimed control over every aspect of human life; a staggering number of men and women rush to get as much done as possible, consuming crazy amounts of caffeine and gorging fast food so they don't waste much time on their most natural of needs. The consequence is a whole civilization suffering from ADD. The time that bred a generation of metalheads who listen to several releases from different bands per day also gave birth to bands who allow you to listen to several genres at once, such as these Estonian youngsters.
Flights Of Fancy is an almost entirely instrumental, 80-minute long release which entertained me greatly. X-Panda claims being "proudly influenced" by Porcupine Tree, Planet X and several guitar/piano virtuosos, but the metal/prog influence is just one of the elements being dominant here - the other two are jazz and symphonic music present in movie soundtracks. The symphonic elements are sometimes too obviously synthy, but this band's imagery is very youthful and exuberant, so a bit of cheese is actually an accessory contributing to their music. The band also treats us to various "sound effects" entering their cheerful, flowing guitar/keyboard melodies - Nightwish-esque choirs, punk-ish shouts, fiesta trumpets, electronic sounds and many more.
When vocals make an appearance, they steal the show - imagine a deep voice, as sombre as Daniel Gildenlöw in his most theatric of moods, interpreting ridiculously catchy melodies. While singing along to them, you'll sound like an occultist on Prozac - extra points if your absent-minded humming disturbs strangers standing next to you!
X-Panda's goal is to play music for dreamers and our inner children. Indeed, their music brought up a very personal memory of mine. An art teacher in my elementary school used to play us some very light jazz fusion (the calm sections of the album reminded me of it) to inspire the class as we made sketches. I've learned to like the music, but my repulsive drawings made me decide to turn away from that brand of art, which ultimately lead me to creative writing. So, yeah, try Flights Of Fancy, it digs up stuff from your subconscious!
And speaking of art, how awesome is that cover anyway?
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 9 |
 | Written on 09.11.2011 by A part of the team since December 2011. 7.0 means the album is good. |
Comments
Comments: 27
Visited by: 256 users
| Susan Smeghead Elite Posts: 6941  |
Well, this sounds remarkably intriguing. Nice review!
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603  |
Written by Susan on 09.11.2011 at 05:39 It is, it is the most fun I've had with an album for months. Sure, it's long, but it totally pays off.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Elite Posts: 11835  |
Porcupine Tree? I'd say this is for me.
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| Tod_Engel Posts: 159  |
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| .mrt Posts: 28 |
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by .mrt on 09.11.2011 at 12:29 I did mention 'several shredders', if you go to their site, you'll see they say they're influenced by Rudess and Petrucci as well as Liquid Tension Experiment... I think they did a better job at describing themselves than simply claiming to be inspired by DT guys. Subtle nuances, but very important 
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| jhook Posts: 37 |
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by [user id=4365] on 09.11.2011 at 18:04 I love word games but I have no clue what the word 'expander' means to you... so please elaborate, so I don't involve myself into a possible pervy discussion 
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by Milena on 09.11.2011 at 18:07 Ha, no I'm sure it doesn't mean anything, I was just praising myself for noticing such a simple pun. Perhaps it could be a reference to band's style "expanding" in different directions, or the lengthy nature of the record. Or maybe they couldn't think of a good name and chose X-Panda for purely random reasons.
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by [user id=4365] on 09.11.2011 at 18:10 I'll ask them via email and report my finds on this thread.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| ErnilEnNaur Account deleted |
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| MechanisT Account deleted |
MechanisT
Account deleted
This one is absolutely right up my alley. I shall check them out asap. Excellent review. 
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by [user id=4365] on 09.11.2011 at 18:04 No I think it has more to do with crossbreeding people and panda bears.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Ivor Staff Posts: 5492  |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 09.11.2011 at 20:07 Or, you know, it's Monty Python style. "This panda is no more. This is an X-Panda." And so on. On the topic, though. X-Panda is indeed excellent stuff. Definitely one of the better albums this year. And I'm not just saying because they are from Estonia and play prog/fusion. Although, both help.  The only thing they could have done better is use more vocals. The instrumentals are good by themselves, but with vocals this stuff sounds even better.Oh, and excellent review, Mora! Keep it coming. I.
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Ivor on 09.11.2011 at 22:20 Oh, yes, I couldn't agree more, but the limited use of vocals grants them a lot of unique points, there's a lot of purely instrumental bands, and an 80% of metal bands with vocals like to put an instrumental track or two on the album - rare are the ones who do it the other way around Well I plan a couple of guest reviews... but this front page business is fun, way more feedback I hope I'll get the opportunity to do more of it!
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
All this talk about the music and band name and no mention of this awesome cover art. Well, no mention of it aside from the end of your review.  Maybe people need a bigger version: 
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 10.11.2011 at 01:03 Oh yes, the awesomeness that is this cover. I'd buy a beer for the dude who did this, though by the look of it I'd say he's more into sushi. That's a guy who DIDN'T draw stickmen on his art class for sure *ashamed*
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Milena on 10.11.2011 at 01:08 I love the concept. Open a fish, reveal a sky. With birds. That eat fish. With SPACE as a background.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 10.11.2011 at 01:10 Space as a PLATTER. God, that would be the most awesome restaurant ever.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Susan Smeghead Elite Posts: 6941 |
Written by Milena on 10.11.2011 at 01:19 Ha! WAY cool And thanks Troy for posting a larger version of the cover. That is damn amazing/trippy/clever/wonderful.
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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| X-Panda Posts: 1  |
Members of X-Panda thank you all very muchfor your kind words! The ones interested in what we are doing can join our facebook community: http://www.facebook.com/XPandaband We will buy a beer for the cover art maker
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by X-Panda on 10.11.2011 at 08:52 You do that. See if you can make him do the next one too
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| BaneConall Fart Enthusiast Posts: 251 |
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by BaneConall on 10.01.2012 at 21:01 No prob dude!
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Metren Dreadrealm Posts: 1410  |
This was and still is one of the best prog albums in a long time. And I am not just saying that because their guitarist is my guitar teacher
---- My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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