Rhapsody - Rain Of A Thousand Flames

*=Staff's pick	Rain of a Thousand Flames* Deadly Omen Queen of the Dark Horizons* Tears of a Dying Angel* Elnor's Magic Valley The Poem's Evil Page The Wizard's Last Rhymes

Genre	Epic Power Metal	Fabio Lione	Vocals
Tracks	7	Luca Turilli	Guitar
Runningtime	42 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Inside Out	Alessandro Lotta	Bass
Release	26 Nov. 2001	Alex Holzwarth	Drums
Country	Italy	Alex Staropoli	Keyboards
Similar artists	Labÿrinth, Domine, Thy Majestie

As an hors d'oeuvre (pardon my french) before their new full length album The Power Of The Dragonflame, the guys in Rhapsody are kind enough to offer us this: A "mini-cd" that are 42 minutes long, with two songs showing over 10 minutes on the stopwatch after completion (13:42 and 10:47).

What does this tell us then, in our wait for the upcoming new CD? Well - the uncrowned masters of Italian epic metal have done it again! And I even dare to say that we can expect one of the best Rhapsody albums yet in the next one. There was a time when I thought that Rhapsody were on their way to make the same mistake as a few other of their collueges in this business, and kind of overdo the whole thing - it's easy to let the whole thing grow over your head, and let the vocals, melodies and solos drown in all pompousness when you have discovered that that is a winning concept nowdays, but it almost feels like they have taken a notice of that themselves, and are holding back a little in this release. If it's only temporary, or if it's part of their development remains yet to be seen - all I can say is that I like it!

2 of the songs on this one is not even songs - just 1½minute intros to the following songs, so it's really just 5 real songs on this one. It's a good pace throughout the cd, just as we have gotten used to when it comes to Rhapsody - and probably as most of us want to hear them. Because in their ballads and slow parts they give a pretty mediocre impression - there they have something to work more on. In their worst moments it sounds like a mixture of a Disneyfilm and the soundtrack from Sound of Music. But we are spared from ballads on this one! That is a good thing, and saves it from losing any points from the 8,5 - 9 that a new Rhapsody release pretty much has from the start nowadays - even unheard.

Nothing more to say about this, really. Every diehard Rhapsodyfan is gonna be very pleased, and even more eager to lay their hands on the upcoming fullenghtalbum, and if you didn't liked the Italian fantasymetalscene before - than hardly anything will change for you after hearing this. Because this is just as it could be expected/should sound coming from Rhapsody. And considering the fact that Rhapsody has promised us to be more and more metal - more heavy, more powerul and harder - for every record now....I dare saying that we are looking at an extremely interesting next couple of records from this symphatic quintet.

If they now only could replace the man that speaks with the most pretentious, childish and silly voice in the narrated sections, with some of the numerous guys that does it way better, then there wouldn't be much left to criticise.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
9	9	9

Summary
9 chalices of 10 - Tommy