The Cold Embrace of Fear: A Dark Romantic Symphony

Well, it sure seems as though things are coming up roses for Luca Turilli and company since they added “of Fire” to their group name and shed the lawsuit-evoking Magic Circle Music label. Not only did Nuclear Blast help push a new-found energy that lacking in the cumbersome “Symphony of Enchanted Lands 2” back into the ground, making them burst back onto the fantasy metal world with the monstrous “The Frozen Tears of Angels”, but they had enough moxie to be prolific and treat us with two albums for 2010. This caught me by surprise as I felt that, since “Frozen Tears” was pretty much filled to bursting with ideas, I figured and wouldn’t put it past the band to take some time off to rest on their laurels.

But no…that inspiration was apparently still present, and hopefully this latest work would prove just as entertaining…

This time around, the general musical feel is more on the cinematic side than the fantastical, especially in the rather overwrought acting and voice-overs that push the album’s storyline along as the symphonic whirlwinds spin all around the listener. Such things are of a different breed; this is still Rhapsody, there’s no doubt about that. But instead of a monstrous rocker with every track, this is instead more of a continuous orchestral narrative that doesn’t always leap into the metallic spectrum very often (in fact, it only happens twice, technically thrice, over the course of the album’s seven acts). As well, there’s a sort of darkness existing in the overall theme despite the prettiness of the melodic leads and orchestral movements, pushing the dramatics into the forefront and slowing it down considerably. However, the wild and wacky neoclassical sections, from strings to vast choirs to harpsichord still whip around the ears of this listener in a more palatable formant; were it all to mirror the speed metal tendencies present on the previous album, much of the album would have been more of a morass of sound than real music. As such, the songs don’t really follow the rather limiting metal music structures and arrangements and instead flow from one movement to the next in a pretty traditional classical way, though still retaining a few moments where Rhapsody of Fire reminds that, in the end, they’re still a metal band, dammit! (fast, sweep-picked solos, both acoustic/electric guitar and keyboard, crushing choruses and machine gunny drum work). It takes a very easily accessible ear and mind to truly appreciate this, as the lushness of the compositions isn’t for fickle, fair-weather metal folk, and as I sat back and let this album overtake me, I felt very much pulled into everything and wanted to really see how the story unfolded (in a way, I’ve been swept up in where Erian’s last book was since “The Dark Secret”), and in the end, I was left wanting more, wanting to know what else can happen. Yes, I know that the story is overwrought and cheesy, I know the whole medievally themed “good versus evil” thing has been done before, and more seriously done, but either way the music makes up for it with its ability to transcend the CD right into the heads of would-be listeners, where the likes of “The Ancient Fires of the Har-Kuun”, “Neve Rosso Sangue” and the closer, “The Angel’s Dark Revelation”, are prime stepping stones in this constant river of epicness.

At the end of the day, “The Cold Embrace of Fear” isn’t boilerplate Rhapsody, but it’s still a great listen nonetheless. While not able to really stand on its own (it’s a more entertaining listen in conjunction with the past couple albums), chances are I will still enjoy this every once in a while; I fear that consistent exposure may dilute some of the magic the Enchanted Lands possesses so virally. Recommended if you like this sort of thing. I know I do