
RHAPSODY OF FIRE
With VOYAGER
Words and pictures by Kyle Moore, the Metal Magnus
The Gramercy – New York, NY
May 29th, 2012
RHAPSODY OF FIRE is a band that mostly passed me by. I couldn’t handle the demon-wizard dragon battles. Just couldn’t. So for years, I ignored a band that completely owns a self-created genre – “film-score metal.” Sure, I’d heard a few songs and read about their recent troubles with record labels and former bandmates, but I was busy learning the back-catalogues of MOONSORROW at the time. Then the opportunity came to see them live and even interview them, so I figured I’d better start doing my homework before I set foot into NYC’s Gramercy theater.
Speaking of doing my homework, I did exactly zero about the other three bands on the bill. If I haven’t heard of a band appearing before a headliner, I like to know absolutely nothing about them; it enables me to be totally blown out of the water when the rare band comes along that is really, really good. This has only happened once before, and that honor goes to the afore-mentioned MOONSORROW. That band blew my mind to pieces, and they also upstaged their sister-band FINNTROLL. But back to the show at hand…
VOYAGER
The first two groups on the bill aren’t worth mentioning. I forgot their names the second they got off stage in the not-as-crowded-as-it-should-
RHAPSODY OF FIRE
For RHAPSODY OF FIRE, I felt that I would be asking for bewilderment if I didn’t do a lot of listening homework before seeing their live show. So for the last week, I’d been constantly spinning their latest album FROM CHAOS TO ETERNITY. The title track has been stuck deep into my head since I first heard it, and it shows no sign of leaving – and to my greatest joy, the title track was the first song they played to a giddy crowd. I became likewise giddy and pumped when newcomer guitarist Tom Hess let rip the first vicious riff. Vocalist Fabio Leone sounds even better live that he does on the records – there is clearly zero auto-tune used on this man and his incredible voice. I wonder if he trained to be an opera singer as a young man…
I was especially fond of Fabio’s stage banter. He told some great anecdotes about Sir Christopher Lee, the first Italian song they ever composed, and running into Andrea Bocelli while trying to find a car. You could really tell how deeply the band respects and cherishes their fans, as each band member really went out of their way to give fans in the pit a special evening. Fabio even had a little conversation with somebody in the front row, and the others were constantly hi-fiving fans or posing outlandishly for pictures.
RHAPSODY OF FIRE’S set heavily focused on older material, which I found somewhat disappointing given the strength of their most recent two albums. They have a more progressive, thrashier sound that I find enormously appealing, and it makes the “demon dragon wizard” pill much easier to swallow. The new album was only featured at the beginning of their set, and at the very end, as fans were treated to fragments of the “Emerald Sword saga” conclusion at the end of the second (yes, second) encore.
Overall, RHAPSODY OF FIRE put on a fantastic show. Their energy, passion, and technical aptitude make for a great concert-going experience. And after a while, those demon-wizard-dragon battles become kinda cool.
Setlist
Dark Mystic Vision
Ad Infinitum
From Chaos To Eternity
Triumph or Agony
The Village of the Dwarves
Unholy Warcry
Lamento Eroico
Land of Immortals
Drum/bass solo
The March of the Swordmaster
Dawn of Victory
The Magic of the Wizards’ Dream
Holy Thunderforce
Encore 1
Reign of Terror
Knightrider of Doom
Encore 2
Epicus Furor
Emerald Sword
Erian’s Lost Secrets
Ancient’s Glory
More pics of VOYAGER below….