Rain Of A Thousand Flames

Rain Of A Thousand Flames is the fourth full-studio album (excluding Land of Immortals, Eternal Glory, Emerald Sword, and Holy Thunderforce) of Rhapsody of Fire, released in '98. Many consider Rain Of A Thousand Flames to be their first EP, despite being listed as a full length album on their website.

Rain Of A Thousand Flames is the prequelling part of the Emerald Sword saga's final chapter, being succeeded and ended by Power of The Dragonflame.

The Rhapsody story so far...
The Italian Epic Hollywood Metal band Rhapsody, formed under the name of Thundercross in Trieste in 1993, has with their three successful album releases, 'Legendary Tales' (1997), 'Symphony Of Enchanted Lands' (1998), 'Dawn of Victory' (2000) as well as their current specially priced album 'Rain Of A Thousand Flames' (2001), gained a tremendous position in the international metal genre. The band was formed by guitarist Luca Turilli and keyboarder Alessandro Staropoli, and from the beginning, they cleverly combined Rhapsody's music with classical elements as well as film music reminiscent of horror and fantasy film soundtracks. Suitable backing for the band was found in the form of bass player Andrea Furlan, drummer Daniele Carbonera and singer Cristiano Adacher. It was with this line-up that the Thundercross demo, 'Land Of Immortals' was recorded. The German label, Limb Music Products promptly offered the band a contract. Turilli, Staropoli & Co. changed the band name to Rhapsody and entered the studio a short while later to record more material. The result were new songs which, together with 'Land Of Immortals' became the official 'Eternal Glory' demo. Despite huge support from the press and fans from all over the world Rhapsody parted company with Adacher shortly after the release and replaced him with Fabio Lione, a more with versatile, expressive singer with a very wide vocal range. Fabio is also known to music fans as the frontman of Labyrinth (in which he used the pseudonym of Joe Terry), Athena and Vision Divine. In October 1997 Rhapsody released their debut album, 'Legendary Tales'. This album. produced by Sascha Paeth (Heavens Gate, Angra, Kamelot, Mob Rules) and Miro, recorded in the Gate-Studio in Wolfsburg/Germany, combines musical finesses with an ancient legend full of elements of fantasy and became an instant, sensational top seller. Their second masterful work, 'Symphony Of Enchanted Lands', which was released a year later, was a fabulous symphonic metal opus, brilliantly composed, cleverly arranged and opulently instrumented. At the same time Rhapsody, with their second album took a huge step in the evolution of their symphonic speed metal and created a new genre: 'Hollywood Metal', noted for

a heavy sound and strong references to classical or folklore music, at the same time including the same orchestral elements, characteristic of the soundtrack of Hollywood productions such as 'Batman', 'Braveheart' and 'Conan'. The composers of such works, Danny Elfman, Basil Poledouris and James Horner were fundamental for the musical development of Rhapsody. 'Symphony Of Enchanted Lands' was also recorded in the Gate-Studio by the proven production team of Sascha Paeth and Miro. In addition the five musicians welcomed numerous illustrious guests, for example the original Don Cossack Choir, the Helmstedter Chamber Choir, a strings ensemble comprising of violin, viola, cello, contrabass and cembalo, a flutist as well a percussionist. The album climbed the album charts in many countries both within and outside Europe. In Germany its best position was 53rd, a sensational position for a metal band. Supported by their new drummer, Alex Holzwarth (ex-Sieges Even) Rhapsody set out on an extensive European tour with the Scandinavian grand masters of melodic metal, Stratovarius in Spring 2000. It was a package which caused enormous enthusiasm amongst the fans and a tour during which Rhapsody were in a position to win the respect of the crowds of fans everywhere before beginning work on their next opus. The exciting fantasy trip through an imaginary world full of secrets entered its third phase in October 2000 with the third studio album 'Dawn Of Victory'. The new opus catapulted the band once and for all into the upper echelon of international metal bands, to join names such as Dream Theater, Gamma Ray and Hammerfall cleverly combines typical elements of the popular Rhapsody sounds with new, exciting influences, and 'Dawn Of Victory' showed the band with a more aggressive and faster attitude than ever before. The album was even more successful than its predecessor and reached high chart positions in numerous countries. In Germany, 'Dawn Of Victory' reached 32nd place in the album charts, in Italy, Finland, Sweden and France the album climbed to similarly high positions. In Japan it reached 24th and in the Dutch Indie-Charts it reached a staggering 4th. Early Summer 2001 saw the band touring South America for the first time, leaving ecstatic fans behind them not only there but at various European open-air festivals, too. 'Rain Of A Thousand Flames', in the form of a 42 minutes long, specially priced album, will act as a bridge until the release of their fourth full-length album which will be released in February 2002. The epicenter of 'Rain Of A Thousand Flames' is 'Rhymes Of A Tragic Poem - The Gothic Saga', an opus in four parts. "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 'Queen 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 Gate- and Pathway Studios under the guidance of Sascha Paeth and Miro. 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 February 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 and Staropoli explain 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.

Track listing

 * 1.Rain Of A Thousand Flames......3:42
 * 2.Deadly Omen..........................1:48
 * 3.Queen of The Dark Horizons...13:40
 * RHYMES OF A TRAGIC POEM — THE GOTHIC SAGA


 * 4.Tears Of A Dying Angel.............6:22
 * 5.Elnor's Magic Valley..................1:40
 * 6.The Poem's Evil Page...............4:04
 * 7.The Wizard's Last Rhymes.......10:32
 * Total playing time...........................................................41:57

Crediting
 by Luca Turilli & Alex Staropoli

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(SQUARED DIGIT 1)　Rain Of A Thousand Flames......3:42

(SQUARED DIGIT 2)　Deadly Omen..........................1:48

(SQUARED DIGIT 3)　Queen Of The Dark Horizons...13:40


 * RHYMES OF A TRAGIC POEM — THE GOTHIC SAGA

(SQUARED DIGIT 4)　Tears Of A Dying Angel.............6:22

(SQUARED DIGIT 5)　Elnor's Magic Valley..................1:40

(SQUARED DIGIT 6)　The Poem's Evil Page...............4:04

(SQUARED DIGIT 7)　The Wizard's Last Rhymes.......10:32


 * Total playing time...........................................................41:57

Produced & engineered by Sascha Paeth & Miro All music, songs, vocal lines, classical interludes, and bass lines composed by Luca Turilli & Alex Staropoli. All lyrics written by Luca Turilli. Orchestral arrangements by Alex Staropoli. The song "Queen Of The Dark Horizons" contains the soundtrack's main theme composed for Dario Argento's horror masterpiece "Phenomena" by the italian artist GOBLIN. The song "The Wizard's Last Rhymes" contains excerpts from the epic "New World Symphony" composed by Antonin Dvorak.

All songs published by Limb Music Publishing, Germany • Executive Producer: R. Limb Schnoor

Issued under exclusive license from Limb Music Products, Germany

(LMP logo Limb Music Products & Publishing) ℗&® 2001 Limb Music Products MANUFACTURED AND DISTRIBUTED BY VICTOR ENTERTAINMENT, INC., JAPAN. STEREO JASRAC (Squared)01・10・31(01・10・29)(/squared)ⓎⓍ再⃝02・4・30まで このCDは権利者の許諾なく、賃貸業に使用すること、個人的な範囲を超える使用目的で複製すること、また、ネットワーク等を通じてこのCDに収録された音を送信できる状態にすることが、著作権法で禁じられています.

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Trivia

 * - is featured on the cover.