THE COLD EMBRACE OF FEAR

Huh - this is an odd one. Recorded during the sessions for The Frozen Tears of Angels, this multi-part epic tells an important part of the story of the Dark Secret Saga - it's not a side-tale in the same way that Rain of a Thousand Flames was to the Emerald Sword Saga. On balance, I think the band made the right call in leaving this off that album, since it is a major departure from Rhapsody's usual compositional style which wouldn't fit well on that album, or indeed on any of Rhapsody's other releases.

The multi-act song here relies far more on sweeping orchestral sections and extended narrated portions than any other Rhapsody album, to the point where it includes full-blown radio play sections. On top of that, there's more or less none of the band's usual energetic power metal excursions to moderate the pace and aid the flow, to the point where it feels like an experiment in creating more purely symphonic metal than Rhapsody are known for - or just a symphonic soundtrack when the band don't play altogether and let the actors get on with it. It's an interesting attempt, but in all honesty I think they do a lot better when they sound like Rhapsody.