Symphony of Enchanted Lands (1998) Dawn of Victory (2000) Rain of a Thousand Flames (2001) Power of the Dragonflame (2002) Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret (2004) Triumph or Agony (2006) The Frozen Tears of Angels (2010). With 'Power of the Dragonflame', Rhapsody perfectly blended the symphonic-centric style of 'Legendary Tales' and 'Symphony of Enchanted Lands' with the more aggressive, guitar-centric style of 'Dawn of Victory' and 'Rain of a Thousand Flames'. The band's sound is incredibly balanced, better than ever before.
Symphony Of Enchanted Lands Ii – The Dark Secret
Symphony Of Enchanted Lands Ii Lyrics
The last Rhapsody album I found to be truly memorable was 2002's 'Power of the Dragonflame'. After that, even when they were at their best like on 2010's 'The Frozen Tears of Angels', they were mostly rehashing old ideas and not really going anywhere. It was really about time they did something like this.
At least by the time the swift opener 'Rising from Tragic Flames' launches into its chorus you're bound to realize there's some new stuff going on here. While the double bass drum thunder, the colossal keyboard patterns and the majestic vocals of Fabio Lione might have sounded familiar, the chorus choir evokes a feeling basically never heard before in Rhapsody's music... namely that of melancholy. And it's drop dead gorgeous too.
Several choruses and parts throughout the album build similar atmospheres actually. Not despair or agony, but bittersweet melancholy. Like what an aging wizard atop a mountain would feel like gazing out over a gray landscape of cold stone, drawing a sigh and remembering when the valleys were green, enchanted waterfalls sprang out of the mountain walls and mighty dragons and firelords soared proudly in cloudless skies towards magic horizons. I imagine if the wizard would sing a lament it would sound something like 'Fly to Crystal Skies'. The song is something as unusual for the band as a mid tempo heavy metal hymn based around a rather sturdy guitar riff. As is the rather excellent 'Angel of Light', which also reaches into the most sinister territory of the album as well as this band's career so far. It's rather amazing a guitarist has to leave the song writing (I'm sure you know about the infamous split into two separate Rhapsody bands that occurred in 2011) to a keyboard player for the rhythm guitar to do something interesting within the compositions, isn't it?
Speaking of guitar, newcomer Roberto De Micheli certainly knows how to play those neoclassical scales, but doesn't do it all the time and not in all songs. His solos on this cd are for the most part stupidly beautiful, with great sense of melody and emotion and very little showoff. Of course you could argue Luca Turilli's way of playing the guitar, both rhythm and lead, was a very large part of what made Rhapsody original in the first place. You would be right, but I would still have to respectfully ask you to shut your mouth. Turilli is of course also out there with his own version of the band, doing exactly what he's always been doing for all that can't get enough of just that. To me his new music has been a shoulder shrug at best and I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to shun it in favor of the exciting new direction Alex Staropoli and his crew has taken. Basically all they need to improve is the command of their (Turilli's?) trademark speed metal bombast. One of the few diggings in this territory on the album, 'Silver Lake of Tears', is surprisingly unmemorable.
For the first time in over a decade, I actually look forward with quite some expectations to the next effort from this band.