Rhapsody of Fire – The Frozen Tears of Angels
Nuclear Blast
Symphonic/Orchestral Power Metal
9 songs (53:03)
Release year: 2010
Well, well. What have we here? I'd almost forgotten that
Rhapsody (of FIRE!) existed. While I might have enjoyed their cheese-laden brand of Power Metal when I was a younger Metal listener, I soon discovered better bands like
Blind Guardian. After the copyright battles which I have only a passing knowledge of (I assume it was something along the lines of Rhapsody the music service not wanting to be associated with
Rhapsody the Renaissance Fair Rejects), they're finally back after a few mediocre releases which bottomed out with 2006's
Triumph or Agony, which was more pomp than Power Metal. As you can tell thus far I'm not the biggest fan of these Italians, though I do have some remnants of nostalgia for their older works that no doubt are clouding my vision even now of their musical prowess. However, after giving their newest effort:
The Frozen Tears of Angels a good number of listens, I've now regained confidence that this band might be worth listening to apart from mere
comedy value.
The best and most notable part of this album is the fact that
Rhapsody (of FIRE!) finally got their balls back. They have riffs! Glorious, soaring riffs! Even some classic tracks were a bit lacking in that department, preferring their guitars to chug along while letting keyboards and Fabio's melodramatic wailing take the reins. That's not to say it's all balls-to-the-walls riffing all the time; This is
Rhapsody (of FI- Ok I'll stop that) we're talking about here. Usually when the vocals come in the guitars drop into the background and chug power chords while the keyboards inject some bombastic strings and choirs. There are a few exceptions such as on
Reign of Terror, which also features an odd
Rhapsody occurrence: Black Metal screeches of the Dani Filth variety (though not as annoying as you might think). The song also features a surprisingly vicious drum attack and a slightly harsher guitar tone. Directly after
Reign of Terror we are treated to another memorable song, although not particularly unique for
Rhapsody:
Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio, or as I like to call it: "That one fruity song in Italian" Veterans of flowery Folk Metal will probably appreciate it more than the average Metal listener, but it's still a bit hard not to laugh at some points.
This brings up an interesting facet of the album: how a decent amount of it seems to have been influenced by other bands and styles. The back to back guitar/keyboard solos on
Sea of Fate and
Raging Starfire sound very reminiscent of Finnish Melodeath. Indeed, they wouldn't sound too out of place on one of
Kalmah's or
Eternal Tears of Sorrow's mid-era albums.
Crystal Moonlight sounds oddly like a
Kamelot song, with Fabio even adopting some of the vocal styling of Roy Khan (as well as at the beginning of
On The Way To Ainor). It's not at all a ripoff, but I believe the resemblance is definitely there.
Lost in Cold Dreams also sounds vaguely like a Symphony X ballad, though I might be starting to reach for comparisons here. Perhaps it's Fabio's occasional toning down of his usual outrageous style, perhaps it's the change in the riffing, or perhaps I am simply imagining things as a result of not having listened to
Rhapsody in a long while.
Of course, there are still plenty of tracks in the classic
Rhapsody style.
Raging Starfire has a supremely catchy and epic chorus along with plenty of orchestration accompanying the riffs. Likewise,
On The Way To Ainor also sounds like an old-school song with a good number of breaks for the bombastic keys and vocals to work their cheesy wonders. Every track here calls back to an era of the band's history in some way, and it is both refreshing to see a new outlook and comforting that they haven't abandoned their style of old.
Now, before you start doubting my previous statements that I wasn't particularly a huge fan of
Rhapsody of Fire, let's get on to some of this album's failings. For one, the "epic" closer
The Frozen Tears of Angels is pretty lackluster. I honestly expected to have my socks blown off and it really didn't deliver. It's not all that bad, but compared to the quality of the previous material it doesn't particularly impress. As I noted earlier, the best part of this album is the awesome Return to Riffage, so I get a little miffed whenever the vocals, drums, and keyboards totally drown out the guitars, or even if you can hear them, they don't really do anything interesting. I suppose that's kind of a standard for a lot of Power Metal these days, but it's not really conducive to me giving the album overwhelming praise. Some songs on here don't stick very well, despite all the catchy choruses Fabio shoves into each and every one. The fruity song is surprisingly one of my favorites from the album if only because of how different it is from everything else.
Lastly, and most intangible of all, most of this seems a bit soulless. For all the energy everyone puts into their performances, for all the epic orchestrations and composition, the songs and the album as a whole seem to be lacking a kind of spirit that can elevate mediocre albums up to admirable status. I'm sure many listeners would disagree with me, but I personally find there isn't enough fire in this album to have me continue to play it years from now.
Quote: 79
Killing Tracks:
Reign of Terror, Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio, Raging Starfire