Rhapsody of Fire UK Fan Site

The Bloodstock team are delighted to announce that Italian symphonic power metal masters Rhapsody Of Fire have been confirmed for Bloodstock Open Air 2011!

This will be the band’s first UK show in over ten years and their ONLY UK SHOW of 2011! Rhapsody Of Fire will perform on Saturday August 13th as special guests to Immortal.

Rhapsody Of Fire have issued the following statement on their forthcoming Bloodstock appearance:
“Hail to you, dear brothers and sisters! We are so excited to announce to you that we agreed with our English friends an exclusive presence as special guest for the Bloodstock festival of next year in the UK! It will be our first live appearance ever on that wonderful ground and we are looking forward to playing our greatest songs and to have together a great time in the name of Rhapsody Of Fire’s epic cinematic music. See you soon!”

Friends,

I cannot put into words the amount of joy this news gives me!

Seven years since I first heard of Rhapsody, and five years since I saw them for the only time so far live, I am overjoyed to hear that they will finally visit the UK next year – at next year’s Bloodstock festival!

As you may know, there have been some grey times for the band over the past few years; I even worried that I would never see Rhapsody again live – but now I am sure that their Tour of the Frozen Angels in 2010 and into 2011, will be their most epic yet!!

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This also means that the rebirth of this UK fan site can truly commence – I will be looking forward to the band’s visit to the UK; and updating the site – reviewing ‘The Frozen Tears of Angels’; previewing ‘The Cold Embrace Of Fear’; and bringing you as much information as possible about their UK appearance at Bloodstock next year.

I have much work to do – stay tuned!!

Exciting news – and it’s not about their world tour!

RHAPSODY OF FIRE are going to release an epic monument called: „The Cold Embrace Of Fear – A Dark Romantic Symphony“. „For this special CD we composed a unique song of around 35 minutes divided in 7 „acts“. Looking at the title you can easily imagine that such long and epic song will show the most cinematic and orchestral side of our band, all our passion for the world of cinema we love so much and that always represented our main influence while composing the RHAPSODY’s music“, says Luca Turilli and adds: „Essentially it is a long huge song, sounding very symphonic, full of orchestral sections very soundtrack oriented, narrations and spoken parts. More than in other cases we tried to create a real movie atmosphere with very dynamic musical results, also thanks to the help of the English actors that gave voice to different charachters. You will just need to close your eyes and explore those new emotional dimensions we wrote the music for.“ The lyrics of this monumental, epic symphony are based on the „dark secret saga“ and represent a new chapter, directly connected with „The Frozen Tears Of Angels“.

Luca explains: „After the long journey to the icy frozen northlands at the borders of the known world, while facing concrete natural obstacles and the inner demons lying in the depths of their conscience, the five main charachters reach the ancient gothic fortress of Har-Kuun, a real monument of evil trapped between ice and snow, the mystic place where the Erian’s book could be finally found. „The Cold Embrace Of Fear“ tells about the entrance of those bravehearts in the ancestral world of Har-Kuun and the dramatic search for the holy book of the angels, only possible way to understand something more about the dark secret threatening the whole known world. Also in this case I liked to create particular „bridges“ connecting the new chapter of the saga with our modern life on the basis of symbolism, ancient wisdom and spiritual evolution. To someone who knows something about modern psychology and the study of the different „self“, the hidden geometries and gothic labyrinths of Har-Kuun will reveal themselves very clearly.“ Once again Christopher Lee was chosen for the spoken parts as a main narrator. „We couldn’t imagine to release something like this without his fundamental partecipation. Sir Lee is one member of the RHAPSODY OF FIRE‘s family since a lot of time and we love him not only as an actor but also for the man he is. Because of his great and majestic personality he has surely the aura of a king of the ancient times”.

This extraordinary release, will hit the stores on October 15th for a special price.

I’ll post more information as it is released – including a tracklisting!

Italian symphonic metal masters RHAPSODY OF FIRE will release their new album, “The Frozen Tears Of Angels”, on April 30, 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was produced by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli and it was mixed and mastered by Sascha Paeth at the Gate Studio (AVANTASIA, EPICA) in Wolfsburg, Germany. It will be made available as a standard version jewelcase, as “a highsize digipak” with two bonus tracks and as a gatefold double-vinyl.

“The Frozen Tears Of Angels” track listing:

01. Dark Frozen World
02. Sea Of Fate
03. Crystal Moonlight
04. Reign Of Terror
05. Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio
06. Raging Starfire
07. Lost In Cold Dreams
08. On The Way To Ainor
09. The Frozen Tears Of Angels

Bonus tracks:

10. Labyrinth Of Madness
11. Sea Of Fate (Orchestral Version)

The song “Sea Of Fate” is available for free download at this location (free e-mail sign-up required).

01 – Dark Frozen World
02 – Sea Of Fate
03 – Crystal Moonlight
04 – Reign Of Terror
05 – Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio
06 – Raging Starfire
07 – Lost In Cold Dreams
08 – On The Way To Ainor
09 – The Frozen Tears Of Angels
10 – Labyrinth Of Madness
11 – Sea Of Fate (Orchestral Version)

Produced by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli

Engineered and edited by Simon Oberender

Additional engineering and editing by Olaf Reitmeier and Sascha Paeth

Recorded at the Gate Studio (Wolfsburg, Germany) between September and October 2009

Mixed by Sascha Paeth, mastered by Miro

All music composed by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli

except for “Sea Of Fate”, “Lost In Cold Dreams” and “The Frozen Tears Of Angels” composed by Luca Turilli, Alex Staropoli and Fabio Lione

All lyrics, narrations and “The Dark Secret Saga” written by Luca Turilli

All classical interludes and basic orchestral arrangements by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli

Orchestral arrangements by Alex Staropoli

Cover artwork and CD design by: Felipe Machado Franco / Final Frontier Digital Art

Italian metal heroes RHAPSODY OF FIRE return with a fantastic new album that will be released on March 5th, 2010 by their new label NUCLEAR BLAST, which is known for acts like Nightwish, Edguy or Blind Guardian.

“We are finally proud to announce to the world that Rhapsody Of Fire are stronger than ever and finally ready for their glorious come-back! We just signed a worldwide-level agreement with the legendary label ‘Nuclear Blast’, at this time the greatest choice we could have ever done. Wonderful people, a great business vision and the best organization possible, for a relationship that can be anything else but successful for the years to come.

In the last months we worked very hard and now all we can say is that a great new album, a real masterpiece of power/speed/symphonic metal, is finally ready!

It’s title is ‘THE FROZEN TEARS OF ANGELS’, it is produced by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli and it was mixed and mastered by our valorous friend Sascha Paeth at the Gate Studio in Wolfsburg (Avantasia, Epica and others).

This is not just a new album for us, but pure emotion carved in music.

Lyrically it’s based on the 3rd chapter of ‘THE DARK SECRET SAGA’ and the long journey of five bravehearts to the frozen northern lands at the unexplored borders of the known world in order to find a way to stop the demonknight’s prophecy. This album and its music will underline the feelings, hopes and fear of the main characters in this new epic adventure.

All the drama of this new part of the saga will be as always enchanted by the soundtrack oriented orchestral arrangements and the majesty of opera choirs, real trademark of Rhapsody of Fire’s music, but surely this album will sound more powerful, speed and guitar oriented than in the recent past, in order to underline the dark and romantic rage of the lyrics too.

Every song will have its own character, as you will be able to fly with the angels of the crystal realms through the cold skies of the north on the notes of hit-songs like ‘SEA OF FATE’ (song written for the first time together by Luca Turilli, Alex Staropoli and Fabio Lione), ‘RAGING STARFIRE’ or ‘THE FROZEN TEARS OF ANGELS’, and at the same time you will have a taste of the angels’ holy rage listening to ‘REIGN OF TERROR’, real gem of this new production.

The energy of more extreme metal applied to positive lyrics hymning to the victory of hope, truth and respect over the inner demons lying in the depths of our conscience for a unique contrast never heard before and that made us really excited while composing this song.

This new CD will include a great looking cover artwork, created this time by a new and incredibly talented artist able to turn the drama of our fantasy world into a serious, cinematic and realistic representation, and a complete booklet including all the details of the saga’s new chapter. The album will be released as a special limited deluxe digipak (first edition) including two bonus tracks and an incredible 32-pages booklet, as well as a standard jewelcase and of course on vinyl.

We are looking forward to inviting you to the unexplored snowy and icy majestic landscapes of the north, that mystical dark frozen world where even the tears of our beloved angels can’t be anything else but frozen!”

01 – “Unholy Warcry” (Introduction)
02 – “The Past Few Years”
03 – “The Wisdom of The Kings” (Live from Germany)
04 – “The Fans”
05 – “The Village of Dwarves” (Live from Canada)
06 – “The Mystical Journey”
07 – “Erian’s Mystical Rhymes” (Live from Canada)
08 – “Drum Solo” (Live from Canada)
09 – “Canadian Cousins”
10 -  “Dawn of Victory” (Live from Canada)
11 -  “Lamento Eroico “(Live from Canada)
12 -  “Emerald Sword” (Live from Canada)
13 -  “The Village of Dwarves” (Live from Czech Republic)
14 -  “Land of Immortals” (Live from Czech Republic)
15 -  “Holy Thunderforce” (Live from Germany)

Extras

01 – “Unholy Warcry” (Music video)
02 – “The Magic of the Wizard’s Dream” (Music video)
03 – “The Making of the Dark Secret” (Documentary)
04 – “The Making of the Wizard’s Dream” (Documentary)
05 – “Unholy Warcry” (Live from USA)
06 – “Live Equipment”
07 – “Additional interviews from 2005 tour”
08 – “Triumph or Agony” (Electronic press kit)
09 – “Rehearsal – Erian’s Mystical Rhymes”
10 -  “The Village of Dwarves”
11 -  “Outtakes”
12 -  “Unholy Warcry” (Music video – behind the scenes)

01 – Dar-Kunor
02 – Triumph or Agony
03 – Heart of the Darklands
04 – Old Age of Wonders
05 – The Myth of the Holy Sword
06 – Il Canto del Vento
07 – Silent Dream
08 – Bloody Red Dungeons
09 – Son of Pain
10 – The Mystic Prophecy of the Demonknight
11 – Dark Reign of Fire

Produced by Rhapsody and Sascha Paeth

01 – The Dark Secret
02 – Unholy Warcry
03 – Wisdom Of The Kings
04 – The Village Of Dwarves
05 – Erian´s Mystical Rhymes
06 – Lamento Eroico
07 – Dawn Of Victory
08 – Nightfall On The Grey Mountains
09 – The March Of The Swordmaster
10 – Emerald Sword
11 – Gran Finale

Produced by Rhapsody and Sascha Paeth

Recorded by Dirk Kloiber at the “Metropolis” in Montreal/Canada on June 14, 2005.
Engineered by Sascha Paeth and Phil Colodetti
Mixed by Sascha Paeth

Executive Producer: Joey DeMaio for Ragnar Productions Ltd. in association with Hinrich Stürken

Stage production by Rhapsody and Ernst Seider
Cover artwork and booklet layout by Karsten vom Wege

All songs published by Circle Song Music GmbH/ Circle Song Music LLC except *,
published by Circle Song Music / Limb Music Publishing

Original Rhapsody logo by Eric Philippe
Rhapsody logo by Peter Maus

Rhapsody on stage:
Fabio Lione – Vocals
Luca Turilli – Lead and Rhythm Guitar
Dominique Leurquin – Lead and Rhythm Guitar
Alex Staropoli – Keyboards
Patrice Guers – Bass
Alex Holzwarth – Drums

01 – TMoftheWD (English Version)
02 – TMoftheWD (Italian Version)
03 – TMoftheWD (French Version)
04 – TMoftheWD (German Version)
05 – TMoftheWD (Orchestral Version)
06 – TMoftheWD (Album Version)
07 – Autumn Twilight
08 – Lo Specchio D’Argento

01 – The Dark Secret
02 – Unholy Warcry
03 – Never Forgotten Heroes
04 – Elgard´s Green Valleys
05 – The Magic Of The Wizards Dream
06 – Erian´s Mystical Rhymes
07 – The Last Angels´ Call
08 – Dragonland‘s Rivers
09 – Sacred Power Of Raging Winds
10 – Guardiani Del Destino
11 – Shadows Of Death
12 – Nightfall On The Grey Mountains

Produced by