Symphony Of Enchanted Lands - Rhapsody

The second album from Italian symphonic metal band Rhapsody (recently forced to legally re-name themselves ‘Rhapsody of Fire,’ quite ridiculously) continues the Emerald Sword saga of their debut, ‘Legendary Tales.’ This band, increasingly so in recent years, surely epitomises the nerdy and childish genre of fantasy metal, as their songs take the classic heavy metal form (which was often infused with slightly geeky lyrics to begin with) and introduce folk and classical Medieval influences to strive for what the band themselves deem a ‘Hollywood metal’ sound. The intention is to create something like an epic fantasy film told in song, making use of spoken word ...