Legendary Years - Rhapsody of Fire (2017)

As we know, the saga of world once most bombastic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire has really reach its climax. In 2011,  a friendly split had taken the band into two groups. It took six years later that Fabio Lione, the voice Rhapsody of Fire has also finally left the band. On this matter, Giacomo Voli been recruited as replacement for new vocalist. The other long time member, drummer Alex Holzwarth also left the band and respectively replaced by Manu Lotter. As the most up to date formation, it is only Alex Straropoli that being the only original member of the band. With this in mind, the almost new band of Rhapsody of Fire decided to do a compilation album. The problem is, they redo all the songs despite of how legendary the original one is. Legendary Years is a remake of Rhapsody of Fire's favorite tunes. If you haven't decided how to put all RoF best hits into one album, well, the compilation of songs for Legendary Years is well selected. In this album, the band bring the best riffs, the best ballad and the best epic for listener.

The good things of the remake happen to fall to all songs from their first album : Legendary Tales.  "Flames of Revenge", "Land of Immortals", "Legendary Tales" are the song benefit from this remake. The modern recording and mixing quality are worth for the remake. Even though we all love the original version of course. Simply say it, the one with Luca Turilli! However, the band decided to decreased the volume of the orchestra channel. Listen to the first song "Dawn of Victory", just when the orchestration joined in, the power is not as bombastic as the original version. The other thing to notice is how the guitar distortion is softer than the original version. Two songs that slightly affected by this version are "Dargor, Shadowlord of the Black Mountain" and "Holy Thunderforce", I just love the original version because its guitar rawness compare to the new one. The last thing to compare is the vocal done by Giacomo Voli, although I will simply enjoy the new singer to reinterpreted all these songs.

Legendary Years is  a great compilation that shown how the band become as legend-wait for it-dary, as today. Fourteen songs selected to refill our memories on the best moment in the late '90, where we all wait for new Rhapsody album to be released from Italy! All the remake done in 99.99% faithful to the original. Modern technology help us owned these new recordings. Let's put the past behind us and welcome the once again new Rhapsody of Fire line up, performing our favorite classic tunes from the band.

Buy it Here - Amazon
Legendary Years - Rhapsody of Fire (2017)

1. "Dawn of Victory" Dawn of Victory 4:44
2. "Knightrider of Doom" Power of the Dragonflame 3:58
3. "Flames of Revenge" Legendary Tales 5:32
4. "Beyond the Gates of Infinity" Symphony of Enchanted Lands 7:21
5. "Land of Immortals" Legendary Tales 4:53
6. "Emerald Sword" Symphony of Enchanted Lands 4:23
7. "Legendary Tales" Legendary Tales 7:49
8. "Dargor, Shadowlord of the Black Mountain" Dawn of Victory 4:47
9. "When Demons Awake" Power of the Dragonflame 6:46
10. "Wings of Destiny" Symphony of Enchanted Lands 4:17
11. "Riding the Winds of Eternity" Symphony of Enchanted Lands 4:12
12. "The Dark Tower of Abyss" Symphony of Enchanted Lands 6:51
13. "Holy Thunderforce" Dawn of Victory 4:20
14. "Rain of a Thousand Flames" Rain of a Thousand Flames 3:43
15. "Where Dragons Fly" Emerald Sword (Japan Bonus)

 Giacomo Voli – lead vocals
 Roby De Micheli – guitar
 Alessandro Sala – bass
 Alex Staropoli – keyboards
 Manu Lotter – drums