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No,
Rhapsody of Fire is not a brand new Italian symphonic power metal band,
it is the band formerly known as Rhapsody, who due to copyright and trademark
issues simply had to change their name. For those who feared that the
change would also mean a new beginning musically need not to worry...
Luca
Turilli and Alex Staropoli continues to create huge symphonic soundtrack
inspired songs with lots of harmonies and huge choirs, and the influence
from soundtrack composers like Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings composer)
has never been more obvious than on this album. So the term Tolkien
Metal as some like to describe the style of Rhapsody of Fire as, might
apply pretty well in this case. A pretty good example is the 3 minutes
intro, which made me think of Galadriel and elves.
Rhapsody
of Fire is one of those cases you either love or hate, and I have been a
big fan of theirs since their groundbreaking debut album, and even
though they in my opinion have released a couple of mediocre album
lately they have always been in the Champions League of symphonic power
metal. With "Triumph or Agony" they prove once and for all
just why!
This
album is almost as brilliant as their first 2 albums, which will always
stand out for me, and have everything you could wish for as a fan, and
with the 16 minutes epic: "The Mystic Prophecy of the Demon Knight"
they have actually managed to capture the true essence of the band in
one song. The rest lives up to my expectations - no fillers, no below
par songs, just an album filled with good Rhapsody (of Fire ) music.
So if you count their previous albums among your
favourites then you can buy this one without any hesitation, but if you
can't stand their earlier stuff then I am sure this one won't change
your stand on them one bit, because this is another standard Rhapsody (of
Fire) issue...and they haven't reinvented their own style at all...
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