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Rhapsody - Power Of The Dragonflame


*
=Staff's pick

In Tenebris
Knightrider Of Doom*
The Power Of The Dragonflame*
The March Of The Swordmaster*
When Demons Awake
Agony Is My Name (Bonustrack Ltd. Ed.)*
Steelgods Of The Last Apocalypse
The Pride Of The Tyrant*
Lamento Eroico
Rise From The Sea Of Flames
Gargoyles, Angels Of Darkness*


Genre Epic Power Metal
Fabio Lione
Vocals
Tracks 11
Luca Turilli
Guitar
Runningtime 66 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Inside Out
Patrice Guers
Bass
Release 18 March 2002
Alex Holzwarth
Drums
Country Italy
Alex Staropoli
Keyboards
Similar artists ---

The 45-minute taster Rain Of A Thousand Flames made us discover a more straight-forward and more "metal" side of Rhapsody, with the past albums pompousness toned down a bit, in favour of giving the by now more heavy guitars some more space and attention. The guys in Rhapsody have earlier told us that their intention is to be heavier, faster and rawer for each release in the future, and - they are obviously men of their word.

Luca's guitarplay, and than especially his solos, are beyond anything he has achieved so far. It is way more agressive and has a great depth and smoothness to it now compared to earlier - which has been magnificent even before, but now it's taken over the top. He seeks slightly other ways in his solos than earlier, which results in more faster and melodic harmonies. In some he makes way for longer periods of pure harmonysolos in true "german metal" style - sometimes in the outer realms of what a certain Mr. Kai Hansen produces in his finest moments.

We are not being given a single second to take a deep breath and calm down here - you feel like you're being taken in a steady and firm grip by a whirlwind, and swept away to divine heights. It starts off with the first blast in our faces, called Knightrider of Doom, which immediatly sets a mark for this album with a furious riff, battering double bassdrums and, of course, a killer chorus out of this world. And if that wasn't enough the follower, and also titletrack, The Power Of The Dragonflame continues where the last one left us with fullspeed, genius harmonies and riffs with a refrain that beats everything that came on their first 2 albums.

I could go on listing track after track a better as the other, but to sum it up, it is only fullscaled hits on this cd - I don't think I ever have heard such a complete album before. These guys are known to be true geniuses in what they are doing, but still this surprises and impressses you when it comes to musicality, as well as the production and the arrangements. Critics with an evil eye towards Rhapsody will of course claim that this sound just like anything else they have released so far, and I can agree to some extent. They are their style faithful, but this is so full of energy and, well - power - than before. A word that I also would like to inflict in this is "elegancy" - I don't know if I am imagining this, but it's made with much more perfectionism this time.

The choruses goes in ordinary Rhapsody-style, but they have never been this good before. When the previous 2 albums have been a tiny bit sterile, and with a little lack of feling in the arrangements- this album feels so "full" in it's sound and everything falls to place. Fabio Lione sings like never before on this album, and with an agression that fits the music and guitars extremely good, and in some parts he is even moving in the realms of growling, more death metal vocals, and he is actually getting away with it with the honours.

And finally - the days of slibby ballads seem almost to be over for Rhapsody! But only almost, cause Lamento Eroico is such song -kind of non-saying and average to Rhapsody-standards, but at least they have fired the guy that has narrated these kind of songs before(but of course he pops up for a few 10-secondparts in the closng song instead). Instead they concentrate on what they do better than anyone else, and by now without much resistance even from former non-believers must be considered Kings of Epic Metal, and it will be very, very hard for present as well as future bands to ever overdo this.

Something has to mentioned too about the closing monsterpiece Gargoyles, Angels Of Darkness, which clocks in at 19 (!) minutes and after 2 minutes of beautiful acoustic guitars the riffs of Mr. Turilli lead us in to another great adventure and keeps us there in an ongoing good pace and - do I need to say?: with choirs and choruses beyond most previous composed ones. Be very sure to get a hold of the limited version of the album - which apart from being a double-CD with the second CD actually a DVD featuring the band’s five videos plus many extras - contains the track Agony is My Name, that are among the better songs they have done so far in their history.

I must say that I am very, very overwhelmed by this, and I don't see it as an option to do anything else than - almost in an euphoric state of mind - handing out my second 10-pointer in my reviewing career.

See also review of: The Frozen Tears Of Angels , Triumph Or Agony , Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II , Rain Of A Thousand Flames

Production
Vocals
Compositions

9

9

10

 
Summary



10 chalices of 10 - Tommy

Related links:

www.mightyrhapsody.com