POWER OF THE DRAGONFLAME

Power of the Dragonflame is the fifth studio album ( if you include Rain of a Thousand Flames) from Italian Symphonic power metal band Rhapsody. There are no surprises on the album as Rhapsody continues the style they have been playing since their first album.

The music on Power of the Dragonflame is generally fast paced euro power metal with lots of symphonic orchestral keyboard parts which is no surprise if you have heard the first four albums from the band. Personally I remember this one as more orchestral but listening to this again after a couple of years really showed me that Rhapsody hadn´t changed much. Songs like Knightrider of Doom, Power of the Dragonflame and Agony Is My Name are classic fast paced songs while there are also more mid paced songs like The March of the Swordmaster and parts of the long epic Garoyles, Angels of Darkness: Angeli Di... Garoyles, Angels of Darkness: Angeli Di... with it´s 19:02 minutes is the most innovative song on the album and really the only song which sounds a bit different from what Rhapsody have already done. It´s a great idea with a long epic but I must admit that I find it a bit trivial. A song like Lamento Eroico is the kind of serious epic choir arranged song that Rhapsody also does sometimes. Pretty impressive but again they´ve done it before.

The musicianship is as always really excellent. It has really boosted their sound with the addition of Alex Holzwarth ( Sieges Even) on drums. The soloing from Luca Turilli isn´t as excessive as it was on the two first albums which to me as a guitarist is a real shame.

The production is very good. Typical Sacha Paeth and Miro sound.

The cover artwork is only something a fantasy fan can be impressed by. Of course the cover suits the story line but IMO that storyline has never been very good and after this many albums maybe it´s time to change the course just a bit ? Well Rhapsody obviously don't agree and their real fans probably don´t agree as well. At this time I´m just so tired of the fantasy image, that I would like to see a change.

As such Power of the Dragonflame is as good as the previous albums but you have to admit that the music is by now pretty generic. Some of the songs here on Power of the Dragonflame sounds exactly like songs from the previous albums and I was actually in doubt if those songs where re-recorded for this album. Had I listened to this album as my first Rhapsody album I would easily have given it a 4 star rating, but as the lack of innovation is a problem for me I´ll only give this one a 3 star rating.