I am probably not the right person to be writing this review, but then why not. The last time I purchased a Rhapsody of Fire CD was 15 years ago. It was also exactly the last time I have written a Rhapsody of Fire review for Triumph or Agony. After tremendous effect Legendary Tales and Symphony of Enchanted Lands the band had on me, no Rhapsody (or Rhapsody of Fire) album came even close. Inertia the main motivator, I bought a few more albums and totally ran out of faith with Triumph or Agony. So except a few songs here and there I missed the Turilli era limping to its end, the band trying to reinvent itself with Giacomo Voli as a new vocalist plus basically replacing its whole lineup while stalwart Alex Staropoli stubbornly plugged along. Thus, you won’t find any references to The Eighth Mountain or any of the Rhapsody of Fire more recent albums in this essay.

The brief review for I’ll Be Your Hero EP can be summarized as palatable. Even the opening song, the future must be single and the next album’s title track did not reach the excitement of the first two albums. That magic and truly cinematic Hollywood metal is probably dead forever. At the same time I’ll Be Your Hero is less symphonic, not very pompous, hard, driven song with symphonic elements. I like the fact it wasn’t overwrought, exuded a bright feeling and Giacomo Voli can certainly take a high note. The unicorn tale Where Dragons Fly half Italian folk and half middle-Eastern motif comes to us from way back, from the days of those early albums, but it is a song left out from those breakthroughs only to grace Japanese versions. It was probably better this way, half hymnal and half pastoral piece with braided in flute is exiting me exactly halfway. Two live tracks Rain of Fury and The Courage to Forgive, from The Eighth Mountain I missed, sound very vigorous and enthusiastic, are extremely well produced for live tracks and have good balance between audible strong vocals and powerful bottom end. It is just the songs themselves, the melodies and the hooks no longer stir me up, although the chorus of The Courage to Forgive is pretty rousing.

Including the ballad The Wind, the Rain and the Moon sounded like a good idea, every EP needs a ballad, but doing it in 4 languages (English, Italian, Spanish and French) will work for the band hitting the live circuit, audiences will lap it up, but with music and arrangements being exactly the same it seems like the only person who spent time in the studio doing something was Giacomo Voli laying the vocal tracks. I sense a little complacence and running out of ideas as to how to make the EP more wholesome. Sure the song is tender, would have been a fit on the pair of first albums, with lyrics fitting the mood and ending build up, but it is the same song repeated 4 times in a row. Please have mercy.

To me, no, this EP will not make me wait breathlessly for the new Rhapsody of Fire album to come out. I will still probably skip it. But for those hundreds of thousands social media followers the promo is touting, they probably can’t wait, and I’ll Be Your Hero will be a welcome stopgap. It is certainly not atrocious and I only had a few yawning moments while humming along to the most of it.