Label : Nuclear Blast Records
Review by Tony Cannella
Several years ago the members of the virtuoso Italian metal band Rhapsody found themselves in a unique situation. The band – rather amicably – split into two factions with one half going on to be known as Rhapsody of Fire and the other side (this one) being led by guitarist Luca Turilli and being known (cleverly enough) as Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody. While Rhapsody of Fire has already gone on to release several albums, “Ascending to Infinity” is the debut from Luca Turilli’s band. With this album Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody continues on the path of cinematic metal and brings it to a whole new level. Every song on “Ascending to Infinity” sounds like it could be the sound track to some epic movie. The scope of the music is so huge, ambitious and majestic. Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody is not female fronted. Their lead singer Alessandro Conti does a competent job throughout the disc and has the perfect style to go along with enormity of the material – he’s also got quite the vocal range. “Ascending to Infinity” includes some songs with choir-like backing vocals and some female vocals as well. Some of the highlights are: “Dante’s Inferno”, the 8-minute “Excalibur” and the 16-minute “Of Michael the Archangel and Lucifer’s Fall” which is divided into three parts and is quite the epic to close things out. Another favorite is the slower tempo song “Luna” which features a female singing some of the lead parts. This song is interesting in that the female parts are sung in English and the male vocals are in Italian. If you are already a fan of Rhapsody than you should love “Ascending to Infinity”, if you are not a fan of this band however than it probably won’t win you over. Nevertheless, “Ascending to Infinity” is a huge sounding record that should further cement their reputation as purveyors of ‘cinematic metal’.
Rating – 75/100
Tracklist
- Quantum X
- Ascending to Infinity
- Dante’s Inferno
- Excalibur
- Tormento e Passione
- Dark Fate of Atlantis
- Luna
- Clash of the Titans
- Of Michael the Archangel and Lucifer’s Fall (I. In Profundis, II. Fatum Mortalis, III. Ignis Divinis)
Line Up
- Alessandro Conti – Vocals
- Luca Turilli – Lead Guitars and Keyboards
- Dominique Leurquin – Lead and Rhythm Guitars
- Patrice Guers – Bass
- Alex Landenburg – Drums
Links
Facebook * Google Plus * Twitter * Site