Rhapsody

Symphony of Enchanted Lands 2: The Dark Secret

hahahahahha.

Review Score:

(10/10)
Even though Rhapsody embodies many characteristics I generally hate (huge-vibrato "operatic" power metal vocals, cheesy riffs, cheesy songs, keyboard solos, cheesy narration, not much variation from song to song or album to album, et cetera), I think their albums are mostly awesome and this one is outstanding. Just when you think Rhapsody can't get anymore over the top, they get Christopher Lee (haha) to play the Wizard King (read: narrate), hires a complete orchestra and assorted ensembles, and a 50something-voice choir. If you know anything about this band, that's about all the information needed.

I've kind of lost track of whether this album is about the Emerald Sword or whatever, but I doubt many people care about the story anyway. All that matters are the exciting, epic orchestrations and melodies. _Symphony of Enchanted Lands II_ has all that in abundance. Basically all the songs are cool and "hard core" Rhapsody, just jacked up several notches. So by default I suppose it may be the best Rhapsody album. Christopher Lee performs narration parts, and obviously that makes for a substantial improvement over the geydar narration of previous albums. Christopher Lee's voice is almost as cool as Tony Jay's, so it is pleasant to listen to in itself.

What are the problems? All the usual Rhapsody characteristics, but tenfold (good or bad depending on perspective), and quite a bit of narration it seems and interludes, taking away a lot of momentum. Also, the album is pretty long (72 minutes! of power metal!) and kind of runs together sometimes.

Anyway, this album is seriously cool and it's probably the best power metal album ever. But hey, I think AMG gives this music like 2-stars, so it might suck.

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