RAIN OF A THOUSAND FLAMES

I did not buy the CD of this album when it was first released because it was positioned as an EP to bridge to the upcoming album "Power of the Dragon Flames". Why bother buying a CD where some or even all tracks will be featured in the next release? Having been satisfied with the first three albums of the band (I even bought two versions of "Dawn of Victory" album: the standard and the boxed set limited edition where it has beautiful and colorful booklet - it's worth the money, actually) I could patiently wait the full album later. But wjat happened then when I purchased the limited edition set of Power of The Dragon Flame (CD plus bonus DVD) and I compared the song list between Rain and Power - oh boy . they were totally different! So, I purchased the "Rain of Thosand Flames" altogether with the Power of the Dragon Flames album.

Even though less melodic than the first three albums, this one is still a good CD to have. Conceptually, nothing new that Rhapsody offered with this album. Story-wise it's still about the Algalord Chronicles saga (which I got lost already on the overall story - it's basicall the battle between the good and the evil, or so). Musically, it's also the same with previous set-up (first three albums) only that this one is less-melodic and intensively use choirs that in a way has reduced my respect to the band's music. I got a sense that through this release music is used as a background only of singing part because so many choral sections which tend to be boring for my personal taste.

"Rain of a Thousand Flames" (3:43) kicks off the album with a full-blown music with grandiose orchestral work in power metal speed tempo (you can hear it from the bass drum pedal sounds). Fabio sings his high register notes accompanied with choirs section and the melody follows the flow of the rhythm. I like the intertwining guitar and keyboard work during interlude part. The song ends up with a combination of orchestra and choirs (like the end of a battle). "Deadly Omen" (1:49) is a nice bridge using piano as lead, strengthen by orchestral arrangement. Really nice bridge. "Queen of the Dark Horizons" (13:42) blasts the music off with a grandiose combination between accentuated choirs (female), orchestra with nice piano interplay. Oh man .. when you play this in a decent stereo set, you will get the sense of a war (oops . there should be no war anymore! Only the war to evils!!!). The music flows in high and low points with frequent tempo changes (this what has made this band is featured in this website; it's not a pure power metal - it's a hybrid one. That's why it's featured here. Typical power metal music is straight forward "dug-u-dug-u-dug" / "jeg-e-jeg-e-jeg-jeg-jeg" from start to end; no tempo change. Rhapsody music is full with tempo changes.).

The remaining tracks form an epic called Rhymes of a Tragic Poem - Gothic Saga that comprises: "Tears of a Dying Angel" (6:23) , "Elnor's Magic Valley" (1:40), "The Poem's Evil Page" (4:04) and "The Wizard's Last Rhymes" (10:38) . The first part "Tears of a Dying Angel" starts with a marching music (like troops being moved to the battlefield) followed with a blast of choirs in an accentuated line like a yell. The music flows in power metal vein with the yells come back occasionally. Yeah, I suffer quite a lot with this track actually because it's less-melodic compared to previous albums. But, what can I say? It's probably part of the story that requires the music goes this way: bombarded with choirs. "Elnor's Magic Valley" (1:40) is a bridge music containing nice and traditional violin and flute work. "The Poem's Evil Page" (4:04) begins with a very nice combination of piano and flute that let the low register voice of Fabio Lione enters the scene. The music moves up into a faster tempo with combination of keyboard and guitar work. It returns back to quieter passage and a nice classical music with violin and keyboard ends up this track. It continues seamlessly with the classical music style to the concluding track "The Wizard's Last Rhymes" (10:38) which later moves into another fast speed music in the power metal vein.

Overall, it's a good album. The weak points if I can summarize is the over usage of choirs that dominate the music. The other thing is on production and mixing. The recording volume is too high so in some segment with high points the sound is a bit disrupted. But I know, this might be the difficulty in mixing acoustic and electric instruments in fast speed music. Keep on proggin' ..!

Progressively yours,

GW

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