Italian epic symphonic melodic metal band. Rhapsody is a fairly recent band, that has done great work so far. The band has only three albums out, and all are very good. All three albums tell some sort of Dungeons and Dragons like story, which I could do without. Yet, the albums are all very good in places, and very bad in places. Some of the songs are very fast symphonic songs, that really get one pumped up. These songs contain everything from guitar solos, to harpsichord solos. The power of these fast songs like the Emerald Sword, is on line with a great Wagner opera. Alas, then one finds a totally idiotic song that is slow and has a dumb voice over about this stupid knight. Sometimes the dumb voiceovers come after an outstanding climax. I am forced to not play certain songs at all because of these cheesy voiceovers. Still Rhapsody has a great singer in Fabio Lione, the musicianship is superb, and many of the songs are amazing. Rhapsody exemplifies totally symphonic metal, a metal where the symphony is at the forefront. If only they weren’t into the stupid Dungeons and Dragons genre. The strange thing is, I understand these are perfectly normal Italian guys, with gorgeous girlfriends etc. For some reason the whole sword and dragon thing is perfectly normal in Europe. If I was to start a Dungeons and Dragons sounding band in America, only the biggest loser, never seen the sun geeks, would listen, or even not laugh at my band. Anyway, Rhapsody is extremely good, just skip the cheesy songs.
