Rhapsody have had a rather interesting past, with name changes for different reasons, but guitarist Luca Turilli has always been at the heart, as he has since the release of ‘Legendary Tales’ all the way back in 1997. However, for the first time in seven years he has again been joined by singer Fabio Lione who of course was there next to him those early days. They have been joined by Dominique Leurquin (guitars), Patrice Guers (bass) and Alex Holzwarth (drums), all of whom played on the last Rhapsody album ‘Symphony of Enchanted Lands II’ in 2004. This means we now have both Rhapsody of Fire (and all of these guys were members of the original line-up of that band) and Turilli/Lione Rhapsody on the circuit, so it is up to the fans to decide which one they want to follow, but for me this is the album which is putting them back where they belong, right at the forefront of powerful symphonic metal.

Fabio is singing better than ever, and there is no doubt that being with Luca brings out the best in both of them. For this album they say they were inspired by the vocal theatrics of Queen and wanted to work in that direction, but Queen never sounded like this. The sound is huge, with a bombastic over the top air which really suits their approach to the genre, and Patrice and Alex shows just what can happen when a rhythm section know each other so well, providing a solid base for the rest of the guys to really bring something incredibly powerful to the table. Keyboards are still an essential part of they do of course, but here Luca provided the piano when the time was right, as opposed to having another member of the band but that will surely have to be addressed for the tours.

Rhapsody may have given themselves an over complicated history and lose some fans over the years, but this shows a band who are treating this as a fresh start and have everything to prove. Welcome back guys.

Rating: 8/10

Links:
https://tlrhapsody.com/
https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/