Rhapsody of Fire is an Italian symphonic power metal band from Trieste. The group defines itself as the founder of "Hollywood metal" . Initially named Thundercross , then Rhapsody , the band changed name permanently in 2006 for Rhapsody of Fire. Their music is characterized by an "epic" instrumentation favoring musical flights with accents sometimes warriors, sometimes softer. The texts of the first five albums tell a single story, which goes even further than the concept album. Some will appreciate the saga and will follow the band for its beautiful melodies; others blame the band for going too far in the "epic" genre, and losing their creativity by staying in style.
Of the first three albums, most of the songs have a rather typical melodic metal structure, reminiscent of Helloween or Yngwie Malmsteen for the neoclassical aspect of the guitar and some arrangements, complete with symphonic parts. They have long instrumental parts. The whole is energetic, happy and catchy. The style of the group then marks a turnaround with the EP Rain of a thousand Flames whose sound is darker. They are slowly getting closer to the sound of a film score, the current outcome being Symphony of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret , where with the means at their disposal and the narrative voice of Christopher Lee, they get an inspired and diversified album.
Realizing his dream to create a powerful and symphonic heavy metal band that would allow him to combine his passion for classical music with the pleasure of playing melodic heavy metal, Luca Turilli set up the Rhapsody project with his friend Alex Staropoli in 1995, in the city of Trieste, Italy. So called Thundercross, the group is organized around Luca Turilli; Staropoli moved to the keyboards and Daniele Carbonera to the drums. Between them will be woven links that will cross all these years of hard work, as much to compose as to repeat, to give concerts, to take care of their promotion or to record. The various singer or bassist changes that will follow will not in any way affect the determination of the hard core who, from the beginning, has spared no effort to achieve the success he aspires to. With the addition of singer Fabio Lione, Rhapsody starts recording their future success, "Legendary Tales" . This first album easily demonstrates the optimization of the synergy inherent in the current line-up. By impregnating their songs with medieval images, enchanted lands and noble knights fighting against Evil, Luca Turilli and his acolytes realize, both musically and textually, a metal-opera of a rare intensity coupled with positivity. Perfectly complementary to these epic-fantastic themes, Rhapsody's music proves to be an inextricable tangle of melodic metal, structures borrowed from Baroque, choral harmonies, folk influences, dynamising percussions, and acoustic instruments. ropes and wooden. Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli, both of whom have classical training, compose together the technical, albeit emotional, pieces that characterize Rhapsody.
Since its conception, the group always tries to prohibit itself any limit by offering its talents to the widest possible public. His first demo, released in 1994, was recorded shortly after the recovery of Luca Turilli, who fell seriously ill. It is this model that draws the attention of Limb Schnoor, the leader of Limb Music & Publishing in Germany, who submits a proposal. Having accepted its offer, the group enters into a partnership agreement with Limb which will prove to be relatively decisive for its future progress. One of the consequences of this is to send him back to the studio to register other titles for promotional purposes. Eternal Glory , the demo resulting from these sessions, brings together all the compositions of Land of Immortals and add three new ones. Now highly sought after by collectors, this model will pull the group out of anonymity with many accolades in the trade press and several labels will be interested.
