“Rhapsody’s history has all the operatic drama required of its Italian heritage. Rhapsody, one of the ‘90s and early-aughts’ finest power metal bands, rose to prominence on the back of outstanding material before suffering a string of setbacks in the mid-2000s. After some legal drama and a triumphant return with two brilliant albums in two years, the band’s primary composers—Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli—split the world in two.” Now Rhapsody of Fire is back with its third post-split album and first with a band new vocalist. What could go wrong?
Europower
Endless – The Truth, the Chaos, the Insanity Review
“Latin American metal is cruelly under-represented on the world stage, lacking the major label support of their European and North American counterparts. The exception to this seems to be power metal, with figureheads such as Angra and Hibria having emerged from Brazil’s urban jungles. A compatriot to these names, Endless has been limited by a spotty output of only 2 albums in around 20 years but their third full-length is now due and calls itself The Truth, the Chaos, the Insanity. Power metal though it is, drawing on the Europower formula, the riffy rhythm guitars land it somewhere close to Symphony X’s prog-power.” Well, how could this be bad!?
Amberian Dawn – Innuendo Review
“Amberian Dawn are a Finnish neoclassical power metal stalwart that has been around for almost a decade, always lurking somewhere on the outskirts of mainstream popularity, but never quite reaching the status of bands such as Nightwish or Epica.” Enough of this kvlt crap, let’s fire up the pop-porn!
Estate – Fantasia Review
“Hailing all the way from sunny Russia, Estate are the proud bearers of good ol’ fashioned Europower. Fantasia, their début effort, is brimming with cheesy keys, up-tempo riffing and questionable English accents – the hallmarks of power greats such as Sonata Arctica and Helloween. Nonetheless, the musical term ‘fantasia’ implies a nonconformity to a specific style, and there are certainly a few curve balls here.” Starting with that Pan-tastic album cover!
Kobra and the Lotus – Kobra and the Lotus Review
Metal has been doing some collective soul searching for a while. The retro-thrash and retro-death movements – along with the ever-growing vest metal movement – have been built on a longing back to the simple, the original, the true. In this push, a lot of bands have been making the claim to the true metal legacy and Kobra and the Lotus are no exception.