Reviewed - 12/11/04

Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret
[Magnetic Circle]

It's incredible how much better Rhapsody are when Luca Turilli isn't writing the music for three full-length releases in one year.

To be fair, Alex Staropoli is as much a mastermind of Rhapsody as Turilli. But "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret" is so much of an improvement over the last Rhapsody album ("Power of the Dragonflame," which was released in 2002, along with "Rain of a Thousand Flames" and Turilli's own solo album "Prophet of the Last Eclipse'), it's amazing. And it's not just the presence of master actor (and classically-trained vocalist) Christopher Lee that makes this album so damn good. Nor is it merely the presence of a 60-piece orchestra and choir. It's not even the 'epic length' of the album (this is the longest Rhapsody album by twelve minutes, with two songs exceed the ten-minute mark). It is all these things combined… and more.

I really wish I had a full booklet of liner notes to go along with this disc – this may be the first promo that I actually go out and buy a regular version of the album for. As it is, I can only talk about the snippets of storyline that I have been able to discern from listening along to "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret." The album seems to take place many years after the events of the Emerald Sword Saga (the first five Rhapsody albums), and revolves around a search for the "Seventh Black Book," which contains within it the spell for resurrecting Nekron, the lord of darkness. Daglor the Shadowlord, a villain-turned-hero from the earlier albums, is present here as well. And the aforementioned Christopher Lee plays the part of the Witch King, though I've yet to determine exactly who that is.

Not only is "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret" the most theatrical and conceptually whole album Rhapsody have ever recorded, it is arguably their best. Orchestral elements missing from the last Rhapsody album are back with a vengeance – this album is interspersed with numerous instrumental passages, renaissance segues, and dramatic skits and monologues. The interplay between metal and orchestra is so smooth, the two so integrated, that for the first time on a Rhapsody album the music is not just "metal with symphonic elements," but an orchestral composition that just happens to utilize the instruments and techniques of power metal. The dialog between singer Fabio Lione and some sort of arch-demon (Nekron?) during "Sacred Power of Raging Winds" stands out as something I would expect to see in a stage production of a fantasy-themed play, not a heavy metal album.

I really wish I had the full liner notes to this album.

The features of your average Rhapsody album are all here, but everything sounds so much more developed than ever before. The huge choirs that Turilli utilized on "Prophets of the Last Eclipse" are here, as are the extensive medieval interludes first heard on 1997's "Legendary Tales," complete with instances of birds chirping, horses trotting, water flowing, and more. Various songs and motifs summon memories of previous moments on previous Rhapsody albums, never in a blatantly referential manner, but always enough to invoke a sense of nostalgia, of looking back at the saga that predates this one. "Nightfall on the Grey Mountain," for examples, opens with a juxtaposition of howling wolves from "Beyond the Gates of Infinity" (from the original "Symphony of the Enchanted Lands") and harpsichord from the title track of "Legendary Tales."

And then there's Christopher Lee. I'm sure by now that everyone has heard of the noted actor's presence on this album, Rhapsody fans or otherwise. And as the preceding paragraphs should illustrate, there is more to "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret" than Saruman (or Count Dooku, or Scaramanga, or…). Whether he is narrating the story ("The Dark Secret"), weaving mystical chants together in the language of ancient magic ("Sacred Power of Raging Winds"), or providing backup vocals (which he allegedly does somewhere on this album… did I mention how much I wish I had liner notes?), Lee is a master at all things theatrical, and brings an even greater aura to "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret." Without the presence of Lee on this album, it would still be a fantastic metal masterpiece. With Lee… wow.

This is probably the most epic album I have ever heard, metal or otherwise. And to repeat my earlier words, this is the best album Rhapsody have ever done. I was a huge fan of the band until I heard Symphony X's "V," which was essentially the orchestral metal concept album taken to the next level. But "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret" does the same, elevating Rhapsody from 'symphonic epic Hollywood metal' to something in between power metal and John Williams soundtrack. More than any album ever before recorded, this is a fantastic journey through heroic adventures and dark secrets in audio form. Mighty, indeed.