Rhapsody Of Fire - Into The Legend

Published January 03 2016

*=Staff's pick	In Principio Distant Sky Into The Legend* Winter's Rain A Voice In The Cold Wind* Valley Of Shadows Shining Star Realms Of Light Rage Of Darkness The Kiss Of Life

Genre	Symphonic Power Metal	Fabio Lione	Vocals
Tracks	10	Roby De Micheli	Guitar
Running time	67 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	AFM Records	Alessandro Sala	Bass
Release	January 15, 2016	Alex Holzwarth	Drums
Country	Italy	Alex Staropoli	Keyboard
Producer	-
Similar artists	---

Into The Legend generally has a lot of similarities to what's been put out before by these metallers. As most of you already know, this is one unit out of two sides sprung out of the same band a few years ago, but still the music doesn't differ much from the previous efforts of Rhapsody, and if it did, I would certainly sit here truly astonished. The band indeed has a certain style that the guys prefer to stick to and this specific style is to me nothing that you easily can step away from and at the same time keep your fanbase at an undamaged level.

Sonically, this new episode of heavy music is a little bit rough and not as clear as it supposedly could have been in terms of 2015's recording technology. On the other hand it is created essentially, I think, in the direction to in some way hit the earlier stages of the band's career and by this I reckon that I'm able to find some validity and comfort in the album's total production anyway.

It's grandiose, it's epic, it's symphonic, but I also believe that all these numerous arrangements kind of smother the most important factor of a record, which is to come out with really awesome songs. Add choirs, rather fast musical sequences and Fabio Lione's amazing voice and impeccable performance, and the description of the band's type of music is almost complete. Some songs are quite all right, but there's also a whole lot that are unable to pick up my interest and when the female vocalist enters the arena a few times on the record, this overall experience puts itself beyond the framework of what I think is really good metal.

I nevertheless guess that fans to this unit probably will appreciate this new work as well, though I personally find it hard to believe that these musicians will manage the task of winning over a bunch of new fans just because of this particular record. I don't think that this release is crappy at all, but since it can't set my body in hardly any kind of motion, it can neither convince me of containing really good music. In the end, there's just too many bombastic appearances and I just have to realize that, after several attempts to find the band's greatness, it never seems to get past the point of a fair rating of 'OK' in my book.

See also review of: The Frozen Tears Of Angels

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	4	5	8	5

Summary
5 chalices of 10 - Tobbe