The artist: Heavy metal with strong orchestral elements with a multi-album concept using fantasy settings? Oh hell yes! Rhapsody (of Fire) are well recognised for their powerful orchestral elements, Luca Turilli's over the top guitar performance and of course making a strong focus on fantasy tales. If you're a sucker for anything medieval-related like me, you'll feel right at home with Rhapsody. For anyone else, your mileage may vary. Some really love the band for who they are, others hate them for who they are. Rhapsody aren't for everyone but they're awesome for those who can appreciate their music. Even if you're not particular fond of these guys, you have to give them credit for getting Christopher Lee to narrate on the albums in The Dark Saga. You'd think each band member would have had to break an arm and a leg just to get him to contribute to their albums.
The album: The Frozen Tears of Angels is Rhapsody's comeback album after being on suspension due to a dispute with Joey DeMaio of Manowar. Not sure what went wrong with him but we should be glad Rhapsody are no longer with DeMaio's record label Magic Circle Music and are now being catered by Nuclear Blast. With the release of The Frozen Tears of Angels, it was clear Rhapsody were back with a vengeance. This album takes a much heavier approach of the band's music by being faster, heavier and harsher than before. It's like the band took all their aggression out on this album after the fall out with Joey DeMaio. You hear Fabio Lione screaming in Reign of Terror? That's how infuriated they were.
The song: On the Way to Ainor starts off right away with some fast riffage rocking alongside with the keyboards. Half a minute later Turilli calms down to make way for the first passage for the vocals with the flute in the background. Fabio Lione knows how to make these songs emotional and executes it very well before kicking it up a bit ready to rock with the whole band. The chorus easily shows the angrier side of Rhapsody's music (again, must have been because of the band suspension) but not on the same magnitude as Reign of Terror.
After the second chorus ends, the song falls into a solomania for two minutes by Luca Turilli and each of his solos during this section have to be some of the finest he's ever played on his guitar. The Frozen Tears of Angels has a lot of killer solos but there's something about the consecutive solos in this song that make them shine even brighter. The song then revisits the chrous one more time before it ends. For the somewhat different structure of song for Rhapsody, this is easily a highlight for not only the album but also the band's music in general.
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