History & Biography Italy-based pomp rock/metallers have gone beyond most acts in covering, self-covering and forming offshoot bands over the years. These acts include Rhapsody, Rhapsody Of Fire, Dreamquest, Luca Turilli's Rhapsody and Turilli/Lione Rhapsody. In all cases, the music has comprised of keyboard-laden and Classical music.
The group was actually founded as Thundercross in 1993. The founders were guitarist Luca Turilli and keyboardist Alex Staropoli. The Rhapsody monicker was adopted in 1995. A copyright dispute with an American entity led to another name change in 2006.
The 1995 demo Eternal Glory featured singer Cristiano Adacher, guitarist Luca Turilli, bassist Andrea Furlan, drummer Daniele Carbonera and keyboardist Alex Staropoli. Limb Music of Germany signed the band and a debut record was released in late 1997. This was billed as the first chapter of the Emerald Sword saga and featured Classical passages, pompous poppy keyboards and a choir. Fabio Leone was on vocals, Luca Turilli played the guitar. Daniele Carbonera drummed and Alex Staropoli was on synthesiser. The group called its music “film score metal.” There was also “Hollywood metal.” There were multiple guest musicians on bass and other instruments.Producer Sascha Paeth contributed bass as well. Symphony Of Enchanted Lands continued the saga. Alessandro Lotta was on bass. Actor Christopher Lee was also heard on the album. Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica and the band toured in 2000. The third part was heard on Dawn Of Victory. The band had lost its drummer and introduced Thunderforce who sounded like a machine. The band claimed Thunderforce was the alias for a famous German drummer. At the same time, the act picked up second guitarist Dominique Leurquin (Dream Child) for touring. The act ventured into South America in 2001. Rain Of A Thousand Flames was part of the Emerald Sword universe. This album was introduced at a special press conference at Wacken. Power Of The Dragonflame, however, continued the said saga. A song featured Italian lyrics. It was called Lamento Eroico. A version came with a DVD. Drummer Alex Holzwarth was billed as part of the band. He would drum for Kamelot live in Europe in 2002. Rhapsody, and its label Limb Music, cancelled plans for the Rhapsody In Black project fearing confusion among fans regarding the project and the nature of the band. This was billed as a darker version of the band initially. Luca explained that he lived in Sarajevo in Bosnia And Herzegovina during the war there and the tragedies had inspired him to write and retell a darker story without vocal melody lines. The band was also looking to release a game and signed with a developer. Alex Staropoli announced his intention to record a solo album with Oliver Hartman of At Vance on vocals. This, again, did not happen. In any case, the band toured Europe, Japan and South Korea. The band also indicated its next saga will be The Lord of The Rings’ saga. That too never came to fruition.
The band signed a management contract with Manowar’s Magic Circle Music and issued The Dark Secret EP through that imprint in 2004. Spoiler alert: the band and imprint would become embroiled in legal quarrels in 2007. Leon would rejoin Vision Divine while Rhapsody Of Fire endured inactivity. To make the matter somewhat whimsical, former drummer Daniele Carbonera was in Nanowar Of Steel in 2006. Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret began the Dark Secret story for the band. The band had a bigger budget and production here. The band conducted the Demons, Dragons and Warriors World Tour. A live album was recorded in Canada. This was the last record under the Rhapsody monicker. Rhapsody Of Fire would eventually go on a farewell tour itself (without Staropoli) in 2016.
Reviews RHAPSODY - RAIN OF A THOUSAND FLAMES - LIMB
Sorry, oh sorry! Debbie, Limb, SPV, everyone I am so sorry. It is true, it sounds akin to a Hollywood soundtrack and has the pomp and grandeur of a major production, but Rhapsody is simply too wimpy for serious metal fans. Drenched in keyboards and piano intermezzos, the Italians crank up the cheese factor to full fondue and compose music for the next big ancient Italian epic to hit the big screen. The melodies drench the songs and the vocals are so ever beautiful and promising I almost got myself a pedicure and treated myself to a day at the spa. It's simply too mainstream and pretentious to work. It's time to go and rent The English Patient now (I cheated, I got Dark City instead).
RHAPSODY - POWER OF THE DRAGONFLAME - LIMB
Rhapsody, for those who have not heard the Italian band, can be described in two convergent manners. Rhapsody can be a speed metal band awash in keyboards and symphonic arrangements. The band can rightfully be considered a wimped out, washed up, synthesized and symphonized speed metal mistake. Then again, this band can be considered an orchestra introducing distorted guitar picking to its symphony.
Power Of The Dragonflame is a huge album. The epic passages, long songs, majestic titles and grandiose art all coalesce to make rhapsody the epitome of pomp in all of musical Europe. Not that this means much to a metal fan, but credit is due and credit is given. As for me, it's back to metal now! - Ali "The Metallian"
RHAPSODY - SYMPHONY OF ENCHANTED LANDS II - THE DARK SECRET - SPV
The new Rhapsody opus is yet another grand production featuring various recordings, producers, instrumentations, an orchestra and even most impressively the voice of Christopher Lee as the narrator of the concept behind the album. The band's pompous rock/Classical fusion flies ahead, while Lee tells the tale of seven books in a mythical land forged as a collection of evil with one last one lost and not yet found. Now this might be me, but substitute book with ring and you get awfully close to a well-known story. Oh well...
The production is obviously big and impressive, the guest even more noteworthy and fans of Rhapsody or Classically-motivated rock will absolutely love what these Italians have come up with. Even a metal fan has to be fascinated by a concept that is supposedly going to span at least five albums. Of course, the cover artwork is again impressively majestic and stirring. Having said that, this is not metal so newer fans should tread with caution. - Ali "The Metallian"
RHAPSODY - LIVE IN CANADA 2005 (THE DARK SECRET) - SPV 
A band that relies so much on orchestral, non-metal instruments and other effects must find it difficult to perform live shows and convey their sound in a live setting. Fans of Rhapsody will definitely look forward to hear the band and their power metal sounds live but for others an epic metal release has to be exceptional to work. This one hour long, recorded on their first appearance ever in Montreal, does a decent job of it and from what one can hear the masses attending the show at the city’s Metropolis venue they may have succeeded. The emphasis of this eleven-track release is on their latest, Symphony Of Enchanted Lands - Part 2, with some lucky fans getting a bonus DVD.
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