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Rhapsody of Fire and Luca Turilli's Rhapsody


Requiem

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Hard to believe that there is no Rhapsody of Fire thread in the Power Metal forum. That's like no cake at a birthday party. If I was less tired I could probably come up with a better simile, but that's all I can manage right now. 

I'm a fairly recent convert to Rhapsody of Fire after years of ignoring such a pompous and flamboyant band, but now I really like them. 

My favourite album of theirs is probably 'Power of the Dragonflame' with 'Dawn of Victory' also up there. I think by the time 'From Chaos to Eternity' arrived the band was really just an excuse for Luca Turilli to show off, and that album took a lot of listens before I figured out that there were actually songs hidden underneath all the guitar twiddle. It was a good thing they split at that point I think. 

Since the split, I've also been absolutely enthralled by Luca Turilli's Rhapsody's 'Prometheus', which I think trumps everything the Rhapsody brands have produced. 'Dark Wings of Steel' by Alex Satropoli's Rhapsody of Fire was pretty cool but lacked in the way of theatrics, but 'Into the Legend' spiced things up a bit although I need to hear it a lot more. For me though, Luca Turiili created a masterpiece because he backed off the guitars and created some mighty symphonies of epic grandeur. 

My intention over the next 18 months is to complete my collection by owning all the albums on CD. I have quite a few to go but Rhapsody of Fire is exactly the type of band that I think make a complete collection really cool. 

Any thoughts on this ridiculous yet fun band? 

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Although I am Italian, I am not familiar with Rhapsody (of Fire)'s output. Never bought a single album... Down here everyone says that "Symphony of Enchanted Lands" is their best. I have no clue. I liked what I heard, but for some reason they never made it to the top of my want-list, so I always end up buying something else by some other band.

Anyways, although I've never seen them play live, I do have seen a few of fellow Italian power metal bands, namely Domine and Vision Divine. Pretty decent acts in their own right. Along with Labyrinth they represent Italy's top power metal bands from the 90's.

 

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On 26/02/2017 at 11:43 PM, Skull_Kollektor said:

Although I am Italian, I am not familiar with Rhapsody (of Fire)'s output. Never bought a single album... Down here everyone says that "Symphony of Enchanted Lands" is their best. I have no clue. I liked what I heard, but for some reason they never made it to the top of my want-list, so I always end up buying something else by some other band.

Anyways, although I've never seen them play live, I do have seen a few of fellow Italian power metal bands, namely Domine and Vision Divine. Pretty decent acts in their own right. Along with Labyrinth they represent Italy's top power metal bands from the 90's.

 

Sorry for the delay in response - there are so many different forums and threads, most of them dead, that it's easy to overlook a response!

Rhapsody are a pretty acquired taste as they're so over the top and goofy. Like I said, it's really only since my mid 30s that I've been into them as I've started looking around for different sorts of musical experience to my usual stuff. 

Like most bands they sort of get a better production and more confidence with each release, and that's not necessarily a good thing for these guys. I think it's amazing that they had the courage (or vanity) to split and run two versions of the band that could pursue their own tastes. 

Their final album all together, 'From Chaos to Eternity' was just a bunch of guitar riffs thrown together for the first few times I heard it, but it did get better. However, I think the split was for the best. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/26/2017 at 5:43 AM, Skull_Kollektor said:

Anyways, although I've never seen them play live, I do have seen a few of fellow Italian power metal bands, namely Domine and Vision Divine.

Dude, Champion Eternal and Emperor of the Black Runes are among my favorite power metal records. 

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2 hours ago, Ecthelion said:

Dude, Champion Eternal and Emperor of the Black Runes are among my favorite power metal records. 

You might want to check out Morby's previous band, Sabotage (you probably already have).

They put out 3 records in the 80's early 90's. The first one is in italian and does not feature Morby. The second one has awful production, but great tracks ("Behind Enemy Lines"). The third one has a cleaner production impaired by very thin guitars and comes across closer to Anthrax melodic thrash ("Hoka Hey").

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 18/03/2017 at 7:26 PM, Skull_Kollektor said:

You might want to check out Morby's previous band, Sabotage (you probably already have).

They put out 3 records in the 80's early 90's. The first one is in italian and does not feature Morby. The second one has awful production, but great tracks ("Behind Enemy Lines"). The third one has a cleaner production impaired by very thin guitars and comes across closer to Anthrax melodic thrash ("Hoka Hey").

You're not really selling it, from your description of each of these albums lol. 

Regarding Rhapsody, I wish there was a cheap collection too. I still want to pick up one or two more CDs, but of course they're not at the top of the 'to buy' list. I'll get to them one day! 

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  • 1 month later...

Oh dear. I've just discovered what's happening with Rhapsody of Dire (sic) at the moment. 

Fabio Lione has left the band and now it's Alex Staropoli and four hired guns. And they've just released an album of re-recorded tracks from their early albums. I'm listening to it now and it's basically exactly the same except slightly worse with the new singer and guitarist.

It really makes you wonder why the hell they would do that - it's just comparison suicide! Also on their website there's a reference to them being the "only Film-Score Metal band in the world", which is just silly beyond words, especially as Luca Turilli's version of Rhapsody are calling themselves 'Cinematic Metal'. Not to mention the many bands who play music that could easily fit this description. And according to the new drummer's profile, he started playing drums at the age of 2. Um, no. Also one of his five favourite albums of all time is Limp Bizkit's 'Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavoured Water'. 

It all just reeks of desperation, the whole thing. I think Staropoli should pull the pin and cut his losses. Time for the 'Film-Score' *scoff* metal band to roll credits. 

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18 minutes ago, Skull_Kollektor said:

I was curious so I tried one song from this new album. Not being familiar with the originals, I couldn't make the comparison... So I gotta say that if you have never heard the original, it sounds very good! Obviously perspective can (and maybe should) kill initiatives like these...

The songs are practically note for note, beat for beat the same as the originals. So one way to interpret it is to see that the band just want to re-release their glory years material a second time for people who have never heard the originals. But like all great songs the first time around, you can't recapture the magic. 

It's like changing peanut butter brands. It's still peanut butter, but something just isn't quite right...

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  • 5 months later...
On 2/26/2017 at 2:44 AM, Requiem said:

My favourite album of theirs is probably 'Power of the Dragonflame' with 'Dawn of Victory' also up there. I think by the time 'From Chaos to Eternity' arrived the band was really just an excuse for Luca Turilli to show off, and that album took a lot of listens before I figured out that there were actually songs hidden underneath all the guitar twiddle. It was a good thing they split at that point I think. 

From Chaos to Eternity was an excellent album. 

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12 hours ago, Ecthelion said:

From Chaos to Eternity was an excellent album. 

Do you really think so?

I had a really hard time getting into this album. For a long time it just seemed to me to be a platform for Luca's solos without much in the way of actual songwriting. I still sort of feel that way. I can sort of see why it was the last album that they did together. 

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12 hours ago, Requiem said:

Do you really think so?

I had a really hard time getting into this album. For a long time it just seemed to me to be a platform for Luca's solos without much in the way of actual songwriting. I still sort of feel that way. I can sort of see why it was the last album that they did together. 

Honestly, I thought that both From Chaos to Eternity and The Frozen Tears of Angels had a more riff-driven and progressive focus that was largely a beneficial change from the orchestral excesses of their Magic Circle days. Those two albums contain some of Luca's best composition. Not to mention some of the best performances from the rest of the band. 

Also, Christopher Lee provides narration on those albums which invalidates your argument. :razz:

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11 hours ago, Ecthelion said:

Honestly, I thought that both From Chaos to Eternity and The Frozen Tears of Angels had a more riff-driven and progressive focus that was largely a beneficial change from the orchestral excesses of their Magic Circle days. Those two albums contain some of Luca's best composition. Not to mention some of the best performances from the rest of the band. 

Also, Christopher Lee provides narration on those albums which invalidates your argument. :razz:

Yeah, Christopher Lee is obviously hard to argue against.

By the way, I see that in February I posted boasting about how I was going to purchase all of their albums on CD, and I don't think I've bought a single one since then.... I recently purchased the first Luca Turilli's Rhapsody album 'Ascending to Infinity' because I was so utterly obsessed with 'Prometheus', but this was only recently and it hasn't arrived in the mail yet. 

I still do intend to pick up more of the old Rhapsody albums. They're great for driving to and from work etc. 

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