The cover on the new cd from the Italian band
Rhapsody gives a little hint of what to expect of the contents. On this, their third cd, they have decided to write some songs with a more aggressive edge and I have absolutely no complaints about this. However, when I first heard that they were planning to do this, I feared that it would be at the expense of the symphonic touch that has always been an important part of their sound. Well, I had no reason to be afraid: the choires, operatic female voices, violins, flutes, horns and so on that has become part of Rhapsody's trademark-sound are still there and the orchestration is really well-done.
Musically we are still talking epic, symphonic metal. The atmosphere is a still the same: we have some pretty heavy songs and some songs that could have been played by some bard in a fantasy world.
Rhapsody do both things very well even though I must admit that it can be a bit cheesy from time to time. No wonder why a friend of mine calls this
happy metal. But who cares that the lyrics are a bit funny from time to time when the music is good!Something that adds both to the symphonic feeling and the sillyness of this cd is the narrator! True, it does give a certain fantasy-feeling but somtimes it just sounds ridiculous! I really don't have anything against narration when it's done well. Listen to
Blind Guardian's
Nightfall in Middle Earth to hear how it should be done.
The rhythm section is good and solid but tends to be a little anonymous. The drumming is as it usually is on a Rhapsody cd: A lot of fast double base drums during the choruses and a lot of the verses and then a lot of breaks. The bass playing is also quite good, though it is in the background most of the time. They both play very tight and fast and that gives the rest of the band a sound foundation to build on.
Okay, let's move on to the 3 members of the band that you can't help notice: First we have Fabio Lione, one of the very best singers in metal today - this man was born to sing! He has a very clean, high-pitched voice and a lot of vibrato! Somtimes this can be a bit too much but most of the time, it suits the music well. On this cd he sounds a bit more aggressive on some songs and he keeps his clean voice for songs that are more symphonic or more like folk-music.
The guitar work on this cd is IMO the best we have heard from
Luca Turilli so far. The man knows when to be a team player and when to shred - and on this cd we hear him doing more of that than on any of the previous cds. He doesn't hold back like on
Symphony of Enchanted Lands when it comes to soloing or playing melodies. I certainly enjoy to hear him play more of that stuff because he always comes up with interresting melodic pieces.
The last man, Alex Staropoli, is probably responsible for what separates Rhapsody from a lot of other bands: He is firmly rooted in the classical music and this influence is never far from his playing. The symphonic parts that
Rhapsody do so well mostly come from his hands. And his solos are great too. Just listen to the keyboard solo in
Holy Thunderforce and you know what I mean. Lately a lot of bands have tried to copy
Rhapsody's formula for epic symphonic metal but
Rhapsody still has that something extra that just make them better than most others.
Conclusion: This is classic
Rhapsody. Here we have all the things we know and love about their music. From time to time it is more aggressive, in some songs the vocals are stronger and more aggressive. There are more guitar solos which is a big plus in my book since Luca do these very well. I'm giving it an 8 since it is a pretty good album. Not their best work but still a cd I will listen to from time to time.
Written by
Tajs Wednesday, October 30, 2002
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