Rhapsody

Rhapsody Of Fire is a Hollywood  band from Italy. Rhapsody of Fire was previously known as Thundercross and simply Rhapsody.

Formage
Luca Turilli decided to create a symphonic metal band with the the concept of coalescing classical music elements to metal back in 1993.

In 1997 Rhapsody of Fire released their debut album, Legendary Tales under the name Rhapsody. Co-founders Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli created an epic sound with this first album. Rhapsody incorporated classical music, baroque and heavy metal styles in a sub-genre they call "Hollywood metal" or "film score metal" because of its resemblance to movie soundtracks. The classical influences include such composers as Vivaldi, Bach and Paganini. The band shows strong power metal influences, and lyrical content is centered around fantasy themes.

In the years that followed 1997, Turilli and Staropoli, joined by Fabio Lione on vocals, developed this new sound with their albums Symphony of Enchanted Lands (1998), Dawn of Victory (2000), Rain of a Thousand Flames (2001), and Power of the Dragonflame (2002). They wrote pieces such as "Emerald Sword", drawing on Russian folklore and Celtic style elements and creating what was known as the "Emerald Sword Saga".

Turilli is the band's lyricist, as well as guitarist. His lyrics often refer to mystical lore from the medieval age and the heroic valor of those times, highlighting in particular the everlasting fight between good and evil. "Evil can be found everywhere," says Turilli. "But it will never win as long as there are enough good people who fight against it."

From Dawn of Victory to Power of the Dragonflame, the drums on Rhapsody albums were played by 'Thunderforce'. There was some debate as to whether this was a drum machine, but it is actually a pseudonym for a drummer who could not be named for contractual reasons. Alex Holzwarth, who had been playing drums for Rhapsody onstage, was listed in the official band line-up on these releases. Holzwarth has played drums in the studio since The Dark Secret EP.

Christopher Lee was involved in their next project, narrating part of the storyline. This album, labeled Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret, was a follow-up to the Emerald Sword Saga and was released in 2004.

The band produced a new single CD in 2005 labeled The Magic of the Wizard's Dream, featuring new versions of "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream", one of the more popular songs from their album Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret. The band had Lee sing backup vocals for Lione, because Lee felt that the narrator's part of being the Wizard King was not as good as it could be without him contributing his voice to at least one song. The song was reworked into four different languages, English, German, Italian, and French. They also included the original version of the song with a duet (in English), and an orchestral version of the song. This also produced Rhapsody's third music video. The band also released two new tracks exclusively on this single, "Autumn Twilight" and "Lo Specchio D’Argento" (The Silver Mirror). This single was released March 29th.

The band released their latest album, Triumph or Agony, on September 25th 2006, in Europe.

Discography
Demos are italicised. Full-length albums are bolded. EPs are apostraphe'd. Live albums are in this. And finally, Compilations should have underlining text.
 * Land of Immortals - 1994; as Thundercross
 * Eternal Glory - 1995; as Rhapsody
 * Legendary Tales - 1997 (October 27th; the 22th for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * Emerald Sword - 1998 (September 9th; the 30th for Japan's release); as Rhapsody.
 * Symphony of Enchanted Lands - 1998 (October 5th; November 11th for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * Holy Thunderforce - 2000 (September 20th; October 21st for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * Dawn of Victory - 2000 (October 30th; Nov. 16th for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * Rain Of A Thousand Flames - 2001 (December 19th; Octob. 31st for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * Power of the Dragonflame - 2002 (March 18th; the 27th for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * Tales From The Emerald Sword Saga - 2004 (February 23rd; June 3rd for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * 'The Dark Secret (EP)' - 2004 (June 29th; the 23rdh for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II -The Dark Secret- - 2004 (September 27th; the 29th for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * The Magic Of The Wizard's Dream - 2005 (March 29th); as Rhapsody
 * Live in Canada 2005 The Dark Secret - 2006 (January 23rd; March 31st for Japan's release); as Rhapsody
 * A New Saga Begins - 2006 (Septemberconfirmation needed!); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * Triumph or Agony - 2006 (September 25th; October 25th for Japan's release); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * Split-album, "Demons, Dragons & Warriors" - 2007; as Rhapsody Of Fire, with HolyHell, and Manowar.
 * Visions from the Enchanted Lands - 2007 (July 6th; Jan. 23, '08 in Japan and 09.07.07 in unknown region.); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * The Frozen Tears Of Angels - 2010 (April 30th; the 28th for Japan's release); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * 'The Cold Embrace Of Fear A Dark Romantic Symphony ' - 2010 (October 15th); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * Aeons Of Raging Darkness - 2011 (May 6th); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * From Chaos To Eternity - 2011 (June 17th); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * Live - From Chaos To Eternity - 2013 (May 3rd); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * Dark Wings Of Steel - 2013 (November 22nd); as Rhapsody Of Fire
 * Live In Atlanta - 2014 (May 16th); as Rhapsody Of Fire.

Current Members

 * Fabio Lione - vocals (1994-present) : All albums from Legendary Tales onward.
 * Roberto de Micheli - guitars (2011-present) : All albums from "Live - From Chaos to Eternity" onward.
 * Alex Staropoli- keyboards (1994-present) : All albums, debuting in "Land of Immortals" Demo
 * Oliver Holzwarth - bass (2011-present) : All albums from "Live - From Chaos to Eternity" onward
 * Alex Holzwarth - drums (2000 - present) : All albums from The Dark Secret onward.

Former Members

 * Cristiano Adacher - vocals (1993-1995) : Only Land of Immortals and Eternal Glory
 * Luca Turilli - guitars (1993-2011) : All albums from Land of Immortals to From Chaos To Eternity.
 * Tom Hess - guitars (2011-2013) : Rhythm guitars inAeons Of Raging Darkness and From Chaos To Eternity. Guitars in "Live - From Chaos to Eternity"
 * Andrea Furlan - bass (1993 - 1995) : Only Land of Immortals and Eternal Glory
 * Alessandro Lotta - bass (1998 - 2002) : All albums from Emerald Sword to Rain Of A Thousand Flames.
 * Sascha Paeth - bass (1997, 2002) : Legendary Tales and Power of the Dragonflame.
 * Patrice Guers - bass (2002 - 2011) : All albums from The Dark Secret to From Chaos To Eternity.
 * Daniele Carbonera - drums (1993-2000) : Land of Immortals (Demo album), Eternal Glory, Legendary Tales, Emerald Sword, Symphony of Enchanted Lands
 * Thunderforce - drums (2000-2002) : Holy Thunderforce, Dawn of Victory, Rain Of A Thousand Flames, Power of the Dragonflame