DAWN OF VICTORY

What a BIG surprise!! I never thought this band would be categorized as prog. But I see the point why it is finally put in the prog basket as the music is not purely a power metal genre (the kind of music pioneered by Germany's HELLOWEEN) but it has a considerable prog elements (the use of orchestra / string arrangements, varieties of shifting tempos PLUS . I never heard the kind of mixture of Rhapsody's music before. That's why it's prog to the corner!). I have to salute the Proagarchives team for having this band included in this page.

It was definitely 2002 when I first listened to this album from my metal folks in my home country. I still remember at that time we had the PROG FEST of Indonesian Progressive Society where our country's prog bands were demonstrating their act. One of my metal friends, Satrio, a young metal-pro man, introduced me to RHAPSODY, SYMPHONY X and NIGH WISH. I was not interested because I'm sure it's gonna be a kind of head- banging metal stuff that was not my cup of tea, I would say. Anyway, I bought the CD of this album from the CD counter in that Prog Fest. Oh mannnnn ... let me tell you the truth . this album BLEW ME COMPLETELY!!! Again, I never imagined that human being was able to create such a beautifully crafted music like this one. They call themselves a "metal warrior", but it's not really . they are purely prog met warrior!

"Lux Triumphans (2:00)" is a typical overture of any power metal band; it sounds like a church choirs but it set the overall tune of the album. It flows to heartbreaking, uplifting and energetic track "Dawn of Victory". WOW mannn .. what a dynamic song this track is! This is the kind of track you would like to hear when you just woke up in the morning to elevate your energy and emotion! It's a wonderful track in a metal vein. (Hey, don't ever imagine that RHAPSODY's music is of similar to DREAM THEATER. No! They are completely different kind!). The lyrics that I can remember on top of my head is "For Ancelot the ancient cross of war. For the wholly tons of God. Gloria! Gloria perpetua! For the dawn of victory! .. Wow ....!!!!!!!! You will be totally adrenalized man!

The rest of the songs are excellent as well. If you enjoy track 2, you would enjoy all tracks, for sure! That's the rule. Unfortunately I'm away from my city as I'm now in my clien's manufacturing facility 120 KM away from Jakarta and I don't bring my CD. Otherwise, I can review track by track in detail. But .. it's not worth it for you to read my review track by track basis, turn off your computer and go get the CD now! You would hardly regret. Believe me.

The masterminds of this album are the guitarist LUCA TURILI (I got his two excellent solo albums as well) and keyboardist ALEX STAROPOLI. These two guys are brilliant guys! But .. there are two other important guys, eg : SASCHA PAETH and MIRO as producer. I think the greatness of this album is nonsense without the hands and brains of PAETH and MIRO. In my observation, the two gentlemen have produced other quality music with the American band :KAMELOT (another great band in the vein of Rhapsody). I fell in love with KAMELOT thru their album "Karma". And .. in my opinion, once RHAPSODY is already "in" here, this page should also cover KAMELOT and NIGHTWISH. It's a MUST!

Overall, this album is a masterpiece. I have collected all the albums of the band and has no regret at all. If you can find the boxed set of this album, you should get it, because it has a book with it. Great album to have. DON'T MISS IT. (Coincidently, this morning I received an SMS from my prog friend, Agung, saying that he is totally in trance with this album while listening to the CD in his way to the office). HAIL! - Gatot Widayanto, Indonesia.

The beautiful princess is kidnapped!

Q - What do Rhapsody and Tangerine Dream have in common?

A - After reviewing a few of their albums it becomes more and more difficult to say anything new about them. Both bands are masters of their chosen (and admittedly very different) crafts, and both stick closely to what they are good at.

So with "Dawn of Victory", we venture into Rhapsody's world of "Symphonic epic Hollywood metal" again, for their third album of wonderfully bombastic music.

For those who have followed my reviews of Rhapsody to date, "Dawn of victory" continues the wonderful "CHRONICLES OF ALGALORD - The Emerald Sword Saga" which began with their first album "Legendary tales", and continued through "Symphony of enchanted lands". In this, part three of the four part tale, the wizard Aresius of Elgard continues to tell the story in his distinctive, sometimes colloquial way.

By now, our Nordic hero, known only as "The warrior of ice", has tamed a mighty dragon by sparing its life, found the keys for the Ivory Gates, and recovered the Emerald Sword. The sword (as you will recall!), holds the key to peace in the trouble lands of Algalord. Things of course do not go smoothly, and wouldn't you just know it, a beautiful princess along with a number of heroic knights, is kidnapped from the Enchanted Lands by the bad guys. The ransom for their release is none other than the Emerald Sword (sharp intake of breath now!). While until now, the story has been one of heroics and triumph in the face of adversity, "Dawn of victory", despite its title, finds things taking a much darker, and more disturbing turn.

Musically, "Dawn of victory" is slightly stripped down compared to its predecessors. The anthemic choruses and mighty choirs are still there, but the orchestration has been kept in check, the album having more of a metallic rock feel. Things get off to the by now usual start with a brief opening operatic male vocal anthem, which builds quickly to a climactic crescendo, then bursts into the title track. The track "Dawn of victory" is right up there with Rhapsody's finest. Driven along by double speed drumming, the vocals vary between super-fast verses, and slower, mighty choruses. The minimal orchestration is noticeable, but does not detract from the highly infectious chorale of the choruses. A truly magnificent opener.

There are plenty more of the traditional Rhapsody tracks such as "Triumph for My Magic Steel ", "Dargor - Shadowlord of the Black Mountain", and "Holy thunderforce" (the titles tell you all you need to know) all with driving beats, soaring choruses, and excellent guitar solos.

There are though, also some interestingly different songs. "The Village of Dwarves" brings the band's traditional folk influences to the fore. After a female vocal start with soft bird sounds, a Celtic pipes sound bursts in, and we are treated to a gypsy camp fire type song which might be taken from an old musical film. "The Bloody Rage of the Titans" opens as a ballad, with piano and superb soaring vocals, supported by the choir. The track has a progressive structure, moving through a folk dance and some excellent waltz like guitar work. There are similarities in places with Guns 'n' Roses "November rain", the pace being majestic without the double beat drumming of other tracks. "Trolls in the Dark" is a brief guitar instrumental introduced by an effective child vocal accompanied by baroque recorder.

The album closes with the epic track "The Mighty Ride of the Firelord" clocking in at over 9 minutes. After a dramatic intro which might have come straight from the orchestral score to a horror movie, the band throw everything into the pot one last time, with mixed choirs, guitar breaks, sweeping violin, and narration all building towards the grand ending.

In all, Rhapsody's third album finds the band altering the controls slightly, but creating an album which follows on perfectly from those which went before. While the orchestration is not as significant this time, this is more than compensated for by the strength of the melodies. A fine album indeed, with the usual excellent packaging.

The story continues with Rhapsody's fourth full album "Power of the dragonflame".

Ok,I'll describe this one in a few lines cause' I don't think it deserves much more place or time.

The positive (only for those who haven't heard a single track of the band) :Interesting symphonic prog/power metal,inspired musicianship and orchestrations,high skilled musicians,everyone is a master of his own instrument...

The negative (for all the others who have a previous experience of the band) :zero development of the sound of the band.All the tracks are similar to each other and you think the whole sum of them was part of the first or the second or the fourth - or I don't know which - album...Really boring,the excitement of their debut is competely lost...

And is needless to say that I belong to the second category...

Dawn of Victory is the third album from Italian Euro Power metal band Rhapsody. I was a big fan of Rhapsody when this album came out and I was not disappointed as it follows the formula of the first two releases from the band. There are some small changes though that sets Dawn of Victory apart from Legenday Tales and Symphony of Enchanted Lands.

The music is generally very similar to the two previous albums which means fast paced drumming and neo classical guitar riffing, Orchestral arrangements which includes a choir and a bombastic and anthemic atmosphere that only few other bands in the genre masters as well. Rhapsody was a unique band at the time of this release even though they are clearly influenced by other euro power metal bands like Helloween and Stratovarius. What is special about Rhapsody is of course their heavy orchestral arrangements and Luca Turilli´s sweeping guitar solos which I always found to be a real treat. Very melodic but still pretty fierce. The orchestral arrangements don´t take any power out of the music like it could have done. Here it works with the music instead of against the music like I have heard so many times before when bands try and mix classical orchestral music into their rock/ metal. Rhapsody also owes some dept to German power metal band Blind Guardian.

There are some furiously fast songs on Dawn of Victory which is something I have always loved when we´re talking Euro Power Metal. The title track Dawn of Victory starts the album with a blast after the usual classical intro Lux Triumphans. It´s an extremely fast paced song with some tempo changes along the way to keep it exciting. It´s a clear favorite here for me. Triumph for My Magic Steel is also very fast paced but it´s a bit more melodic and bombastic. The Village of Dwarves is a mid paced folky song with some nice vocal harmonies. It´s actually one of the better songs in this style Rhapsody have made. Dargor - Shadowlord of the Black Mountain is pretty fast paced too but like Triumph for My Magic Steel it´s also very bombastic.

The Bloody Rage of the Titans is a slow to mid paced song which is one of my favorites too. It´s really grand and anthemic. Note Luca Turilli´s slow sweeping in the instrumental middle section. Great stuff. Holy Thunderforce which was the single from the album is a fast paced and strong song. It´s not the best song her IMO but it´s still very good. Trolls in the Dark is an instrumental song which isn´t the best here either but good enough to be here. The Last Winged Unicorn is in family with Triumph for My Magic Steel and Dargor - Shadowlord of the Black Mountain which means fast paced yet bombastic. The epic The Mighty Ride of the Firelord ends the album. It starts really well and there are many great parts in this song. It´s a bit too long IMO though and near the end I find it a bit trivial.

The lyrics are in typical euro power metal style about dragons, Dwarfes and heroes. I have always found this to be a joke, but I guess it suits the folky mideavil tendencies in the music.

The musicianship is outstanding and in addition to mastermind Luca Turilli on guitar and Alex Staropoli on keyboards who are the main composers in the band you also have new German drummer Alex Holzwarth ( Sieges Even) who plays some great and varied rythms on Dawn of Victory ( well as varied as it gets with classic euro power metal). Singer Fabio Lione also needs to be mentioned for his great performance here.

The production is a bit different compared to the previous albums as Rhapsody pursued a more organic sound on Dawn of Victory. I think it works on some songs while I miss the metallic edge from the two previous albums on other songs. It´s a good production though. Very enjoyable.

IMO this was the last really good album from Rhapsody. Even though the first three albums were very elaborate with classical arrangements and choirs they still maintained power and a metallic edge. From now on Rhapsody will put more focus on the symphonic orchestral parts and there will be far between the fast paced songs that I loved on the first three albums. It´s a real pitty IMO, but I know it´s an aquired taste. Dawn of Victory is an excellent album that I enjoy every time I listen to it even though I do prefer Legendary Tales and Symphony of Enchanted Lands. The 4 stars I will rate Dawn of Victory is well deserved.

Holy [&*!#]!

When writing a review for this album it is hard to resist the urge to just copy and paste my review for the band's previous album as the music found here is very much more of the same. There are, however, some subtle changes that all of them are to the worse, I must say. After the fabulous and highly original debut album, Legendary Tales, and the good, but less impressive, follow-up, Symphony Of Enchanted Lands, I'm wondering here if the band didn't get lazy during the writing and recording of this third album! Apart from the fact that there is no development as such of the music from previous albums, it also seems to be the case that the lyrics and vocals are deteriorating. It is possible here for the first time to notice a disturbing Italian accent in the vocals and the lyrics are even sillier than before. With song titles such as Holy Thunderforce, Trolls In The Dark, Village Of Dwarfs and Triumph Of My Magic Steel, it is increasingly difficult to take this band seriously!

The melodies are still reasonably strong, but almost nothing here is as good as the material from the previous album which in turn was a step down from the great debut. Once again the instrumental skills are indeed impressive, but I cannot help feel that they are somewhat wasted on these songs. There are again a few spoken word passages that add to the cheesiness of the album.

There are still some good moments and aspects that I find enjoyable, but it adds little to what the band had already given us in the past. Another problem I have with this album is that it lacks variation. There is not enough diversity in terms of moods and tempos for me to keep interested till the end.

A relative disappointment for me and I can recommend this one only for fans and collectors.

Rhapsody are one of those bands which rapidly become difficult to review, because their musical style doesn't evolve very rapidly from album to album and they tend to be rather consistent. Dawn of Victory stands out, though, as an interesting tangent in their discography, with the symphonic aspects of their sound toned down somewhat and more folky elements brought in. At points, this can become a little twee and cheesy - I could do without The Village of Dwarves, if we're being honest - but whilst the experiments with their sound don't always work, they just about succeed in maintaining my interest over the course of the album.

RHAPSODY continued its five volume album series that thematically covered an overarching tale called "The Emerald Sword Saga" which exemplified a classic good-vs-evil tale that narrated fantastical lands of myth and monsters. DAWN OF VICTORY is the third installment in this universe and once again crafted by the powerhouse compositional team of Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli. While it may seem the early RHAPSODY albums sound very much alike, it might be helpful to remember that the five chapter series that composes five separate releases could in reality be considered a single massive project that is broken down simply for the sake of marketing and not overwhelming the fanbase.

DAWN OF VICTORY continues the classic symphonic power metal prowess that not only displays the epic fantasy themes but also showcases the extraordinary musicianship that is unleashed. Turilli once again delivers an incessant display of guitar virtuosity complemented with lightning fast neoclassical wizardry and Starpoli exemplifies the same fiery passion on keyboards. The music is once again a mix of not only symphonic power metal but also features many brushes with pure European folk music most obvious on tracks like "The Village Of Dwarves" and while not quite as metallic as, say, Ensiferum or Korpiklaani, still packs a power metal punch at key moments but are heavily dependent on violin and flute sounds.

For the most part, RHAPSODY heeded the criticism of the band's debut when it allowed sprawling symphonic parts to carry on with no metal bombast. DAWN OF VICTORY continues this correction that was achieved on "Symphony Of Enchantment" and continues to keep an extremely fast power metal guitar rampage throughout most of the album with only the lesser folk focused tracks deviating from the formula. While it's not obvious, DAWN OF VICTORY also saw the debut of Alex Holzwarth as the new drummer but the style is so similar and in line with the musical deliveries that there are really no idiosyncratically stylistic changes that will give him away as a newbie as his percussive precision is as top notch as all of the other musicians involved in this fascinating project.

I can understand why this style of metal is considered too cheesy and over-the-top for some however the classical underpinnings keep this a highly melodic adventure with the metal emphasis keeping it in the head banging zone. Fabio Lione's vocals are absolutely perfect for this operatic tale of fantasy worlds and the mix of keyboards and guitars ensures an interesting mix of metal bombast and atmospheric emotional tugs. While most tracks hover around the four to six minute range, the finale "The Mighty Ride Of The Firelord" charges its way up past the nine minute mark and offers one of the most progressive and diverse tracks as it narrates the final chapter in this musical tome of the series. The track is also probably the most successful at summing up the many stylistic shifts of the album as it displays both the symphonic power metal and folk aspects in tandem.

While not substantially different from the previous albums, RHAPSODY does a good job at mixing things up just enough to sounds like its retreading previous musical explorations. For example there are always new approaches to riffs which are mostly crafted through time signatures, riffing styles and dynamic shifts otherwise the folk, classical and power metal elements remain staunchly in place. With music this beautifully designed it's hard not to love the hell out of it and when thought of as merely phase 3 in the 5 part series, it would be a disservice to deviate too far too fast from the formulaic approach. RHAPSODY is one of the most consistent bands in power metal and the third album DAWN OF VICTORY does not disappoint in that regard one little bit.