Third chapter for the “Nephilim Saga” of the Rhapsody of Firethird full-length of unreleased songs for the Trieste band since Giacomo Voli mans the microphone: the new album “Challenge the Wind” comes out on the market in this lively 2024 for the power scene, with the return to the scene of the band led by the founder Alex Staropoli and the guitarist Roby De Micheli. The rhythm section composed of. closes the formation Alessandro Salaon bass since the days of “Into the Legend” (2016), and by the drummer Paolo Marchesichin the team since the previous “Glory for Salvation” (2021), a record from which it emerged unchanged, in a lineup made up exclusively of Italian musicians. The platter, we can say straight away, is a candidate as the most aggressive and direct in the history of the group, a no-frills work, in line with what has been proposed by the new direction of the band since the split with Luca Turilli, with an injection of heavy metal and fewer picnics in the forest between elves and dwarves. THE Rhapsody of Fire they also confirm themselves as an unstoppable force on stage, with live activity always appreciated even beyond national borders.
The album narrates the events between the protagonist Kreel and his nemesis Bezraelblood of his blood, and marks the return of the legendary Therial the Hawk, as illustrated on the cover. A story which, we anticipate immediately, does not reach completion here, leaving the ending open to new episodes.
From a technical and executive point of view, our team’s work is impeccable. Honorable mention for Roby De Michelicapable of churning out extremely precise and refined neoclassical riffs and solos, still capable of moving all the shredder out there. The test was also excellent Giacomo Voli, who with his voice in very high registers confirms himself as one of the most interesting interpreters of the contemporary Italian scene. More than a profession the work of Staropoli with his keyboards to harmonically enrich the songs, always supported by the muscular work of the double bass drum Marchesich which doesn’t leave a moment’s respite. A description, the latter, which fits well already from the opener and title track “Challenge the Wind”, which without even a nanosecond of introduction forcefully throws us into the fray in a song that might recall “Dawn of Victory”. Among the most interesting songs, we highlight the single “Kreel’s Magic Staff”, probably the best episode of the lot, which seems to glow with the magic we expect from Rhapsody of Fireas well as the following “Diamond Claws“, capable of combining speed and lyricism with the pressing keyboards of Staropoli and an intense interpretation of Voli, as well as the positive “A Brave new Hope”, which brings out a positive and radiant refrain on the double bass drum.
Despite the painstaking work of our team in elaborate and complex compositions, the impression, as the listening progresses, is that not everything worked perfectly. First, with production issues: the mixing of Seeb Levermann (Orden Ogan) seems to penalize the guitars in some passages, just as Voli’s lead voice is often not fully exploited, with the keyboards always in the foreground. But the worst flaw of a work, even if it is of a good standard, is the songwriting. In “Challenge the Wind” the impression is that the whole is less than the sum of the parts, that the whole does not stand up to the comparison of the individual tests. This is due to a writing that rarely excites, with ineffective and never truly epic refrains, the almost absolute absence of moments of breathing like a ballad, or more simply with more airy passages (despite some sporadic appearance of the flute Manuel Staropoli) capable of generating tension with the emotional “crescendos” that have always been the band’s trademark.
Another shortcoming, in my humble opinion, is the management of the suite “Vanquished By Shadows”, a piece with enormous potential with an excellent performance by Voli also in growl: given that a 16-minute piece after three 5-minute pieces is very heavy for the contemporary listener, what’s the point of presenting a single piece in several movements when then at the end of the album, in tenth position the same central part re-titled “Mastered By The Dark”? At this point it might as well have been presented the various movements in the form of several pieces, or a more organic suite could have been presented which (as often happened in the band’s history) drew strength precisely from the alternation of situations, without stretching some passages too much.
In summary, “Challenge the Wind” is a work that will receive the appreciation of Rhapsody harder and more muscular, those ofDawn of Victory” And “Power of the Dragonflame”, despite failing to reach its splendor and complexity. A record that, although performed impeccably by the Trieste band, with an excellent performance in particular Giacomo Voli And Roberto De Michelidoes not always manage to hit the mark, like a party that is too oriented towards physical confrontation in which magic is missing, suspended in the final battle not yet concluded between the hero Kreel and his dark rival Bezrael whose results we eagerly await.
Fragile Souls
Weak Spirits
Indomitable arrows
Dirty spells
Luca “Montsteen” Montini
