Customer Reviews

Lost Horizons

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Turilli again shows that he is one of todays great composers, of any musical genre. Metalheads may be disappointed that the driving speed metal which was so prominant on his first two solo albums has almost gone. What we have here are compositions and arrangements of a more complex and mature nature. As with all great artists Turilli continues to take musical risks. He must continue to take risks in the future and ignore the whinging 15 year old boys who only want to hear metal. The only disappointment, as with previous works, is for listeners for whom English is their first language the lyrics can be corny. It would be better if he wrote in his native Italian tongue. Highlights for me are Dreamquest, Sospiro Divino, Kyoto's Romance, Too Late, Dolphin's Heart and Gothic Vision.
I feel lucky that I live in the same age as Turilli and can look forward to his next work and appreciate his developement as a composer. Taking risks is what great artists do and he must continue doing so.

Last night I was at a Hate Eternal show, and this morning I'm on Amazon writing a raving review about this crap. I almost feel like a hypocrite right now...

For me, this truly is Luca's masterpiece. On so many levels, he has proven himself a modern composer with all the sensibilities to infuse classical with contemporary and create something original and intriguing. For a start, he approaches this album as more of a keys man, rather than a fretboard tickler (sorry, no money shots). Also, the fact that there is a female vocalist definitely helps to further set this apart from Luca's previous projects.

Metal fans beware: I would not really consider this to be a metal album. There are a lot of opera-style moments, but for the most part, it is a richly layered and complex pop album. If you are open to musical variety, and can enjoy music in a part of your house where your roommates can't listen in, then you should give this a try. It's certainly worth it.

What we have here is Luca Turilli of Rhapsody fame working with a female singer to build a power opera album with slight techno leanings. Sounds like a recipie for disaster, but fortunately the kid comes up with the goods yet again. He has grabbed quite a gem in this female singer and the songs he has built here are very strong with not really any lowlights on the whole album. The vocalist has an opera voice for sure but does not sing in opera style the whole time. This lends itself well to the songs as pure non-stop opera vocals for me wear thin.

Luca Turilli has essentiall released three simultaneous albums:

Luca Turilli - The Infinite Wonders Of Creation
Dreamquest - Lost Horizons
Rhapsody - Triumph Or Agony

Female vocals in the metal world will not fit everyone's tastes and I'm sure there will be many Rhapsody fans that are not into this kind of album but those who give a fair chance will be pleasantly suprised in the long run.

As far as highlights I have to mention the jaw dropping opener VIRUS. This is one of the more techno songs but at the same time one of the heaviest and most close to power metal. Really, really amazing song you have to hear. Other highlights for me are the almost dance club style techno pop feel good song ENERGY and the slower but equally amazing DOPHIN'S HEART which contains some stellar opera vocals that send chills up and down your spine.

While the Rhapsody release and the Luca Turilli release are both mild disappointments compared to their predecessors, this new Dreamquest release is almost enough to make me forgive.

The album is indeed intricate and layered and well produced but... something is missing, and I think it is called Tuomas Holopainen.

It has a great techno type of feel to it while also keeping the electric guitars and the operatic vocals. Not comparing this cd to anything else Luca has done and just judging the album for its music alone, I love it.

I can't get anough of this CD. Perfect combination of metal, clear Vocals, and orchestration. It just creativity at the best!!!!

First thing I must say about this album is.. The singer's range is just amazing, and her voice is quite beautiful.

Now, I'll admit this, I'm not a Rhapsody fan and I've never listened to Luca Turilli's solo project. But for some reason I just HAD to get this album, and I'm glad I did.

The opening song Virus is an excellent opener, and my favorite song on this album. While I completely enjoy this album, I do grudgingly have little to say about it because, while it is excellent it just doesn't grab me (other than the singers voice.)

Over-all, if you enjoy metal or just good music I'd recommend getting this album.

I remember when I bought my first Nightwish Album. I thought It was great but something was missing, something that made me love so much this band and that Thing missing iT's what this new Turilli's Album has! This is an incredible album, has so many great melodies, great keyboards, and guitar solos. The vocals are very good, without been great, this femme has a very good range, and a beautifull tone wich make this new album a great choice for Gothic, Techno, Melodic Metal lovers... In fact I would prefered that the new Turilli's never have seen the light, instead of that this Album could be a very respectable Turilli's soloist third album.

It's been awhile since I've been this excited about a particular album and this one, Lost Horizon's by Luca Turilli's Dreamquest came out of the blue. This album may be as close to perfection as any I've heard recently. It is so good it defies conventional adjectives. You might say it's ... Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Many of you are familiar with Luca Turilli. For those who are not, Turilli was the lead guitarist and creative energy behind the self styled Hollywood metal band, Rhapsody. Translated, Rhapsody plays a symphonic, extra cheesy, hyper-rhythm, dragon infested version of epic power metal, which the band themselves refer to as Hollywood metal - pleasant listening but hard to take serious. I have noticed that on Dreamquest's website, [...], they refer to Rhapsody's music as film score metal.

I will give them credit, however. When epic power metal is mentioned, Rhapsody is usually the first band people think of. Several years ago Turilli began augmenting his Rhapsody work with a solo project, titled King of the Nordic Twilight and then a second, Prophet of the Last Eclipse. To me it always seemed like solo projects with musicians were like an open marriage - you want a divorce but don't have the nerve to tell your partners. I don't know if Rhapsody is still a viable entity but I can't see how Turilli after reaching the acme of symphonic metal music in Lost Horizons with his new band, Dreamquest, would want to go back to cheese-ville.

Okay, enough background. What's the music like. I'm going to let the band tell you. From Dreamquest's website: "The music on 'LOST HORIZONS' combines powerful metal instrumentation with angelic, operatic, female vocals to create a sound that might best be described as 'SYMPHONIC-ELECTRO METAL'." He goes on to say: "Three years ago, Luca felt inspired to return to the keyboard, influenced by the melancholic melodies of great artists such as CHOPIN or ALEXANDER SCRIABIN and from the love for the new style of soundtracks typical of movies like 'THE MATRIX', 'RESIDENT EVIL', 'EVENT HORIZON' or 'UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION': soundtracks of the new generation where the common symphonic element mixes itself with electronic experimentations offering new exciting audio/visual experiences."

We've read Dreamquest's description of their music - here's mine. It is a confluence of five components of music - metal, opera, symphony, electronica and choirs. If you cannot fathom what this would sound like, be aware it is not unheard of. Chrisropher Johnsson's Therion has been performing similar music since the nineties and the Mark Jansen's Epica also performs this type of music.

I should probably say a little about the singer, whoever she is. There seems to be a mystery about her. No-one knows who she really is and Turilli isn't telling. Apparently he is keeping her under wraps and will say only that her name is Myst. Well Myst is certainly a gifted singer. She has a wide range and impressive projection when she needs to in her classical voice but that's not all. She has a commercial vox as well and on a couple of the songs sounds like any good pop diva. Cyndy Lauper comes to mind.

Another thing I should mention is that our boy, Luca Turilli has been real busy. Lost Horizons was released on July 25th. On June 6th his third solo project The Infinite Wonders of Creation was released. If you heard and liked Lost Horizons, you may be interested in this album as well since if has a similar sound, with the main difference being that this album has both a male and female singer.

IMO, if you bought either one, you're a winner. Rating 4.75 stars.

I am an avid Nightwish fan. I also adore Vinland Sage by Leave's Eyes and enjoy Trinity by Visions of Atlantis. Of all of this genre, there is no album that I have enjoyed as much as Dreamquest's Lost Horizon's.

I am not a big fan of Luca Turilli with Rhapsody finding the productions mildly entertaining but mostly cheesy, over the top, and the man is a pathetic singer. (I am a singer for many years with some classical training, so I have some authority with which to make that last statement.)

The female lead on Lost Horizons has a spectacular voice. She can go into full operatic mode and Turilli, while an awful singer, is a brilliant composer and has given his lead singer every challenge he could and she has met the challenge.

I will not go song to song as I want to keep this brief. The entire album is terrific. While Nightwish with Tarja is still my favorite group (I have yet to put Dark Passion Play into the same league as the prior works) Lost Horizons is better than any of the Nightwish albums.

If you enjoy the other groups mentioned in this review, buy Lost Horizons, you will be glad you did.