RAIN OF A THOUSAND FLAMES

Rain of a Thousand Flames is the fourth album from Italian symphonic euro power metal band Rhapsody. I remember when this album was released. At the time of the release I was a big fan of Rhapsody and as I remember this is not to be considered a full studio album, or maybe it´s something about the story on this one not being a part of the Emerald Sword story ? Well I don´t really recall and as far as the lyrics go I don´t care. I was never very excited about the fantasy lyrical concept of Rhapsody. What I do like about Rhapsody is their speed and melodic symphonic approach to the power metal genre. There are some really powerful songs on their first three albums: Legenday Tales, Symphony of Enchanted Lands and Dawn of Victory.

Rain of a Thousand Flames starts out with one of the best Rhapsody songs ever written which is the title track. This is probably the fastest Rhapsody song written so far and I just love the speed. Alex Holzwarth ( Sieges Even) plays the drums again on Rain of a Thousand Flames as he did on Dawn of Victory and he does a splendid job on this album and in particular on the title track. He is so fast and yet still provides some much needed variation in the drumming in a power metal song. Deadly Omen is a short interlude that seques into the very majestic Queen of the Dark Horizons. Queen of the Dark Horizons is a very symphonic song which has all the usual features of Rhapsody which means big choir arrangements, bombastic classical keyboard parts and power metal guitar riffing. The tempo is generally mid- tempo in this song. There are some beautiful female vocals in the otherwise instrumental beginning of this song that should be noted. Beautiful melody that one.

Tears of a Dying Angel is partly march like bombastic metal and partly dramatic storytelling. Elnor's Magic Valley is a short folky interlude and The Poem's Evil Page is again a mixed song with both metal parts and storytelling. This part of the album is not really something I enjoy too much. Rain of a Thousand Flames end with the symphonic and epic The Wizard's Last Rhymes which is of equal quality to Queen of the Dark Horizons. A mostly mid-tempo song with lots of symphonic keyboard parts.

The musicianship is outstanding on this album and especially drummer Alex Holzwarth needs to be mentioned for his skillful and adventerous playing style within the boundaries of a very strictly formulaic genre like power metal. Keyboardist Alex Staropoli also shines on this album while main composer and guitarist Luca Turilli is not as dominant as usual which for me is a real shame.

The production is powerful.

Rain of a Thousand Flames belong in any Rhapsody fans collection even though I mus confess that it´s with this album I started losing interest in the band. For me it´s a simple matter of speed. I like the very fast songs from Rhapsody the best and there is only one fast song here. Rain of a Thousand Flames indicated Rhapdody´s new style which meant that from this album on they would focus more on the symphonic element in their music and put less effort in making great metal riffs. The balance simply shifted. unfortunately it shifted to the symphonic side and not towards the more metal oriented one which is the part of Rhapsody´s music I enjoy the most. Rain of a Thousand Flames is still a high quality symphonic euro power metal album and deserves 3 stars. It´s not excellent in my book ( only the title track which is one of my alltime favorite Rhapsody songs) which means it doesn´t deserve the fourth star.