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Rhapsody Of Fire
Italian power metal kings.
Power Of the DragonFlame (2002)
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| Reviewer: lach (96) |
I have heard so much about Rhapsody over the years, but have never known which album of theirs to buy. Here in Australia import CD's like Rhapsody are often heavily overpriced and difficult to find. My first purchase was actually "Symphony Of Enchanted Lands" (see below), and I was initially disappointed that the band weren't featured enough, so I bought this album. So how do I explain Rhapsody? Grandiose, loud, fast, huge uplifting chorus's and massively melodramatic! It's impossible not to smile when you're listening to Rhapsody. It's like listening to the soundtrack from Lord Of The Rings but combined with heavy metal band - very cool. Anyway "Power Of the DragonFlame" is Rhapsody's 5th album and opens with a hugely dramatic orchestral introduction. Complete with choir, timpani, brass and strings, they don't waste time messing around with building up to a dramatic climax, they just dive straight in! In what sounds like a soundtrack to the final battle in "The Fellowship Of the Ring", the music rouses the listener to a climactic suspended diminished chord, then the band pounds straight in with "Knightrider Of Doom" - a fast paced thrash inspired monster! The opening track is a great one and features everything that you would want in a power metal band. Great classical orchestration, big chorus's (sung by the entire band), twin guitar harmonies, very fast double bass drum work and mythical lyrics. Rhapsody manage to combine great classical instruments with the band, without compromising their hard edge or muddying the sound too much. Singer Fabio Lione has a fabulous voice and suits the band perfectly. The final 19 minute epic "Gargoyles, Angels of Darkness" is a great track. Nice acoustic opening, epic narration and some great solo's. All in all, a tremendous album by the masters of power metal. I haven't heard Rhapsody's first four albums, so I don't have anything to compare this one to, but I can recommend it if you've never heard the others. |
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Symphony of Enchanted Lands (2004)
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| Reviewer: lach (96) |
The full title is actually "Symphony of Enchanted Lands, Vol 2: The Dark Secret" - I think that this one needs a longer title. It's Rhapsody's sixth album, and in an obvious extension of the previous albums they've decided to go the full shebang and hire an orchestra, and hire Christopher Lee (dude, what were you thinking?) to narrate half the album. Yes, narrate. I bought this album because it came with a DVD that promised to give a bit of an overview of the band. This is something that I look forward to with most bands, as it enables me to catch up on a bands history (similar to the Rage DVD). So this DVD features a short documentary on the making of the album, complete with interviews with the band and clips on filming the orchestra. Also included is a video clip to the opening epic "Unholy Warcry" (in 3 different versions). The music itself on the album is slightly different to the previous one. A lot less of the band and more of the orchestra. In my humble opinion the mix isn't quite right, with a little bit too much of the orchestra, too much narration, too much other fluff besides the band doing what they do best (actually playing as a band together). Don't get me wrong, it's all fantastic, and credit has to be given to the band for pulling off an epic fantasy album, but if you want to hear Rhapsody this isn't the album to buy. However I'm sure that if I was a hardcore Rhapsody fan this album would come as a nice surprise. For the moment I'll be happy shelving this one for a bit until I get some more 'normal' Rhapsody under my belt, however I really like the included DVD. Quick warning - I mp3'd this album up so that I could listen to it on my mp3 player on the way to work. With all of the hundreds of instruments going on a lot goes missing and muddy with the compression of mp3. It just makes it a lot harder to distinguish exactly what's going on. Buy the album! |
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