Rhapsody fans will rejoice in this album's ambition, the rest of the world may find it endearingly bonkers.
Music doesn't get any more bombastic and grandiose than Luca Turilli's Rhapsody. His creative juices are not so much flowing as creating a tsunami here. If you're not keen on genre labels look away now as Rhapsody's music has been termed (by the band) in their evolution as Hollywood Metal, then Cinematic Metal (those averse to genre labels you can continue reading again now).
Over this album's seventy minute run time, Rhapsody's Cinematic Metal approach continues to evolve and become more fully realised than ever before. Only the rapid firing drums remind you of the band's Metal roots. It's mostly orchestral in nature rather than Metal (a couple of good solos aside, the guitar is cast into the shadows for much of this record). What stands out are the complex choral arrangements; there is a mixture of male and female voices, epic choirs and Gregorian chants.
Some stellar Rock voices in the form of Ralph Scheepers of Primal Fear, David Readman of Pink Cream 69 and Dan Lucas of KARO all lend their backing while Rhapsody's lead singer Alessandro Conti does a good job with a variety of material and operates best when he's emulating Michael Kiske's soaring vocals.
The songs are sung in Italian, Latin and English underlining the record's diversity. Standouts offerings include 'Rosenkreuz (The Rose And The Cross)' which is more direct than a lot of the material with a good melody (thus perfect as first single) alongside 'One Ring To Rule Them All' where the feel of Tolkien's Shires is conjured up well. The last highlight might not have a title that runs off the tongue easily, 'Of Michael The Archangel And Lucifer's Fall Part II Codex Nemesis', but over its nineteen minutes it throws everything, including the kitchen sink (no, make that the Trevi fountain) into the mix.