Luca Turilli's Rhapsody - Prometheus: The Dolby Atmos Experience + Cinematic And Live (2016)

solo projects and association with his mainstay brand Rhapsody Of Fire could be seen as inevitable, insofar that with the conclusion of the second stream of episodes of the original Emerald Sword saga that some changing of the guard was in the works, especially considering the monumental feat of putting out 14 albums in less than 20 years. One would assume that with a singular vision to reach for, that Turilli's craft would find itself in a state of renewed energy and vigor, and in the case of debut opus Ascending To Infinity, that happened within a generally familiar stylistic context. In many ways, his latest endeavor Prometheus, Symphonia Ignis Divinus reflects the same familiarity, though from a different chapter in his extensive career as a symphonic metal composer and with arguably a tad less flair than witnessed three years prior.

On its surface, this album tends to resemble the techno-based character of Turilli's solo magnum opus Prophet Of The Last Eclipse, largely in that it incorporates a fair amount of synthetic sounds to complement his staunch loyalty to traditional 18th and 19th century orchestration. The resulting synthesis of styles also gives way to some potential comparisons to his fairly controversial one album project Dreamquest, though thankfully this does not dovetail with any reduction in speed and intensity that befits a power metal album of the post-Helloween order. Indeed, while his appointed vocalist Alessandro Conti has always had a strong Michael Kiske tinge to his vocal style, he does a fair job of adapting his soaring tenor range to something a bit more operatic than Olaf Hayer's vocal work, though he still doesn't quite come off in as colorful of a fashion as Fabio Lione, which is perhaps for the best given that Luca was trying to put some distance between Rhapsody Of Fire.

It should be stated up front that while anticipation for this album was naturally fairly strong given the success of its predecessor, the matter of promoting it was a bit hit or miss given the songs selected as singles for this album. Indeed, perhaps the most formulaic and predictable song out of the bunch "Rosenkruez (The Rose And The Cross)" ended up being the albums lead off single. It's far from what would be described as a dud, but the recurring electronic synth drones that paint the chorus tend to clash a bit with the sampled Gregorian Chant bits, and the song generally avoids any truly engaging twists and kind of goes through the motions. The album's second single "Prometheus" was a bit better, managing a strong bombastic symphonic backdrop to a fair strong speeder, though the lyrics are extremely convoluted and find Alessandro Conti coming dangerously close to a self-induced state of marble mouth.

Thankfully enough, most of what rounds out the rest of this album proves that first impressions can often be deceiving, and a rock solid combination of fun and catchy power metal interacts with some highly ambitious composition work. On the former end of things is a nice lyrical and musical homage to the 2010 film Black Swan, here titled Il Cigno Nero, featuring a charming piano theme somewhat reminiscent of "Pachelbel's Canon" and married to a nice, cruising drive. Things move a bit closer to an older school Rhapsody Of Fire vain with "Anahata" and "Yggdrasil", the former being of a more animated yet consonant character, while the latter brings in an almost lullaby-like feel and blasts forth into a similarly animated and triumphant state of pomp. Generally the approach isn't quite as lightning fast as when Alex Holzwarth was behind the kit, but it's largely compensated for with ambitious songwriting, and the epic homage to Lord Of The Rings in "One Ring To Rule Them All" recaptures elements of the original film score quite well while maintaining his own unique spin on things.

At this juncture, it's still a safe conclusion that Turilli has kept an edge over his former band mates in Rhapsody Of Fire in that he has maintained his status as a technician while still proving to be a capable songwriter, though there is definitely potential over in the other camp with some fine-tuning and an approach closer to where they were prior to Turilli's exodus. This is arguably the most ambitious thing that Luca Turilli has put together since 2002, though it also comes with some individual weak links that were generally absent from his seminal solo works. It's difficult not to notice the impressive colossus of orchestral brilliance and flashy guitar and keyboard work that adorns "Of Michael the Archangel and Lucifer's Fall Part II: Codex Nemesis", and the cinematic cover of Riot's "Thundersteel" manages to come out about as brilliantly as the original while sounding quite different in the process. It's a bit less consistent than Ascending To Infinity, but it may prove to be a better starting point for newcomers to Luca's work given that it embodies his versatility as a songwriter in a more obvious fashion. It's a telltale sign of a good album when even the mechanical parts of the cyborg have a strongly organic flavor to them.

by hells_unicorn, metal-archives.com