In 1997 Rhapsody of Fire released their debut album, Legendary Tales under the name Rhapsody. Co-founders Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli created an epic sound with this first album. Rhapsody incorporated classical music, baroque and heavy metal styles in a sub-genre they call "Hollywood metal" or "film score metal" because of its resemblance to movie soundtracks. The classical influences include such composers as Vivaldi, Bach and Paganini. The band shows strong power metal influences, and lyrical content is centered around fantasy themes.
In the years that followed 1997, Turilli and Staropoli, joined by Fabio Lione on vocals, developed this new sound with their albums Symphony of Enchanted Lands (1998), Dawn of Victory (2000), Rain of a Thousand Flames (2001), and Power of the Dragonflame (2002). They wrote pieces such as "Emerald Sword", drawing on Russian folklore and Celtic style elements and creating what was known as the "Emerald Sword Saga".
Turilli is the band's lyricist, as well as guitarist. His lyrics often refer to mystical lore from the medieval age and the heroic valor of those times, highlighting in particular the everlasting fight between good and evil. "Evil can be found everywhere," says Turilli. "But it will never win as long as there are enough good people who fight against it."
Rhapsody continued on with their success and released "The Dark Secret" EP, and "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream" single, featuring famous actor, Christopher Lee who joined and sang in the band's operatic ballad. The full length release of "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret" truly defined a new strength in Rhapsody when successfully collaborating and recording the album with a full piece orchestra and choir. Following the album, Rhapsody released their first ever live album, "Live in Canada 2005 - The Dark Secret".
THE NAME CHANGE In June 2006, Rhapsody (due to trademark issues) had to change their name to Rhapsody of Fire. After the change the band released their latest album, "Triumph or Agony" and their first DVD, "Visions from the Enchanted Lands". For more information please visit the official Rhapsody of Fire website.
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