Rain of a Thousand Flames

Rhapsody

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 27, 2001)
• Original Release Date: November 13, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Lmp
• ASIN: B00005QKB5
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #81,740 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist
„For us, "Rain Of A Thousand Flames" is the perfect balance between the aggressiveness of "Dawn Of Victory", the symphonic elements of "Symphony Of Enchanted Lands" and all the important components of the ´Hollywood Metal` which we created,“ Luca Turilli characterizes the new songs. „The idea of giving the fans a little present between two regular albums had been in our minds for quite a time. But we wanted to offer them something very special and not just one new song plus a couple of others they already know. That's why we recorded completely new songs, two of which have truly epic lengths. These two tracks are ´Queen Of The Dark Horizons` and ´Rhymes Of A Tragic Poem - The Gothic Saga` with playing times of over thirteen and twenty-three minutes respectively. With ´Queens Of The Dark Horizons` Rhapsody touch on the main theme of the soundtrack of Dario Argento's cinema thriller, ´Phenomena` and, in ´The Wizard´s Last Rhymes` they worked with the characteristic, moving passages from Antonin Dvoráks ´Symphony Of The New World`. All in all it's an impressive piece of music that the band has produced in the Wolfsburg Gate and Pathway Studios under the guidance of Sascha Paeth.

Product Description
The content of "Rain Of A Thousand Flames" prepares the way for the fourth and last part of the 'Emerald Sword saga' which will be released in early 2002. Worth a special mention is the fact that Rhapsody have never before integrated the sounds of their native tongue, Italian, into the songs. “The beautiful sound of Italian really suits this kind of music and apart from that, we could of course express our feelings better in our native language,” Turilli explains and promised that the band will be setting off on an extensive European tour in spring 2002. Besides the regular CD version, "Rain Of A Thousand Flames" is also available as a limited digipak including an MPEG video of the title track, as well as a picture LP with poster.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bloody awsome!!!, December 16, 2001

By	"rosiepalm" (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

i have been waiting for months for this so called MINI album. i had mixed feelings about it becuase the previous albums were so damn good. i needn't have worried! This may be a mini album, but its content is beyond words. It is bigger than big, it is truly epic. I'm not a particularly emotional person, but midway through the inspirational 'Wizard's Last Rhymes' i actually shed a tear. How do they do it? it's a beautiful marriage of operatic influences, classic orchestral sounds, and brilliantly crafted metal, all combined to make a a trully epic piece of work. As i write this i am thinking maybe i am over stating things a bit - hell no. the fact is, i have enjoyed all kinds of metal and rock for a decade and a half. But this is mesmarising. Damn, damn, damn this is so hot i've burnt my fingers just putting the cd into my machine. From the opening track 'rain of a thousand flames' to the superb full length 'Queen of dark horizons'.From the catchy irish influenced 'magic valley' to the simply too short (10 mins is just not enough) grand finale of the 'Wizards last rhymes', this is what music was invented for. Bring it on, please, we need more Rhapsody. Hale Rhapsody.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes, definitely cheesy, but can any of you do better?, April 18, 2004

By	Christian M. Jones (Southern California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I do agree that Rhapsody should hire someone else to do the narration--perhaps someone like Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden or Russell Allen from Symphony X (just listen to Russell's narration at the beginning of "King of Terror" on The Odyssey album).

By the way, Christopher Lee, The Lord of the Ring's Saruman, will be doing narration on the forthcoming mini-album, "The Dark Secret" (May 24th), as well as the full length album due to be released in September, '04.

But come on, no one can claim these guys to be less than adequate musicians and actually back it up with solid info. But I suppose it's all personal opinion . . . so why even argue about it? Basically, if you like this type of music, then you'll enjoy this album--

which by the way, is not intended to be a full length album (so there's no cause for complaint there)!!!

Also, let's please not criticise bands for labels placed on them by other entities, or for that matter, even the labels they give themselves! Just listen to the music as it is, and enjoy the beauty of it. Music is a personal endeavour, so everyone is going to view it in a personal way. Who are we to judge another's view on music, especially when it's the artist's own point of view!?!

Bottom line, if you enjoy Rhapsody's other work, then buy this album. It is full of their usual powerful content, id est, beautiful vocals, tight musicianship, and though at times cheesy, Luca Turilli's on going saga of the struggle between good & evil entities of his fantasy world. The masterpiece on this album is "Queen of the Dark Horizons" (more than 13 minutes). Also to be praised is "The Wizard's Last Rhymes" (more than 10 minutes), full of epic flavor and even a solo from Lotta. "Elnor's Magic Valley" is a brief yet beautiful journey into the sounds of a Medieval village, reminiscent of "Forest of Unicorns" from the band's first album. And it all begins with the high-energy "Rain of A Thousand Flames" to pump you up for the coming onslaught of music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Excelent Epic Continues, January 14, 2002

By	Alain Fournier "wubby" (Hamilton, Pembroke Bermuda) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's the quick version of this review. If you liked Rhapsody's past albums you are likely to like "Rain of a Thousand Flames". If you were not a fan of Rhapsody in the past this won't change your mind.

First a quick intro for people who are unaware of what Rhapsody are and what they do. Rhapsody are purveyors of music that the band likes to describes as "Epic Hollywood metal ". In lay man term it means a mixture of power metal and classical music a la Hollywood film score. Imagine power metal meets the Gladiator soundtrack. In this release Rhapsody continue telling the story of a struggle of good versus evil in a medieval and magical times that they have elaborated in their three prior CD's and that will end in the forthcoming full length CD. Its Lord of The Rings type of story meets Heavy Metal.

As I alluded to earlier "Rain of a Thousand Flames" is a 7 song mini album, which clocks in at about 41 minutes. For the first time a Rhapsody album does not start off with an instrumental classical piece. We have to wait till track two for this. Instead Rhapsody start with a bang with the up tempo title track. With the exception of its duration "Rain of a Thousand Flames" is pretty much the quintessential Rhapsody song with its strong lead vocals, a chorus, lots of double bass drums, melodious keyboards and a bit of narration thrown in to advance the story. A very strong song to start of the album.

With "Queen of the Dark Horizon" Rhapsody again has managed to come up with a terrific epic song. The song is very much keyboard driven in that it sets the tone and pace throughout the song. Witness the build up at the start of the song , the quiet little piano interlude near the 7:20 mark and the very 70's proggish feel of the keyboards near the 10:20 mark. The classical instrumentation and the female soprano singer are used very well to create a very grandiose sounding song. "Queen of the Dark Horizon" with its several change of pace and mood is easily the best song on the album. This is a very busy song that does not feel the length it is. In contrast "Elnor's Magic Valley" is a short Irish or Celtic sounding folk song that features a fiddle and a flute. It's a great little interlude and a nice change of pace.

The album's lone misfire is "Tears of a Dying Angel". In my mind it unfortunately encapsulates one of Rhapsody's overall weakness to me, the narrator. As I mentioned in a prior paragraph Rhapsody are telling a story in their CD's. From time to time a narrator is used to further the story along. Lots of "mighty warriors" and "magic swords" and such are used in these little interludes. Usually they are a track onto themselves or are a negligible part of the song but in "Tears of a Dying Angel" the narrator is an integral part of the song. The song starts off very well with its military sounding drums and its very effective use of a chorus but soon enough the narrator comes in and talks throughout the song.

The album however finishes on a high note. "The Wizard's Last Rhymes" is a straight forward, up tempo song a that rely's on it's classical orchestration and its chorus to give it momentum of a freight train. Again the excellent use of the chorus creates a very bombastic atmosphere and makes it one of the better song on the album. Rhapsody starts and finishes the "Rain of a Thousand Flames" CD with a bang.

Overall a solid all around effort form the Kings of "Epic Hollywood metal ". Not as good as "Dawn of Victory" but it will definitely keep the Rhapsody fan happy until their new full lenght release. As to the uninitiated fan its best to either start off with "Dawn of Victory" since it's the stronger album or with the first album of the fantasy epic "Legendary Tales" to follow the story chronologically.