Rhapsody of Fire (“RoF”) is an Italian Symphonic Power Metal outfit. They originally formed in 1993 as Thundercross, and rebranded to Rhapsody in 1995; they wouldn’t become Rhapsody of Fire until a legal dispute in 2006 forced another name change. In the thirty years and (now) fourteen albums since, the only remaining founding member is keyboardist Alex Staropoli. It is worth noting that founding guitarist Luca Turilli left the band in 2011, along with bassist Patrice Guers and rhythm guitarist Dominique Leurquin, to form a second ‘Rhapsody’ band, Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody, if only to note the missed opportunity in forming a sibling act with a different titular element.1
If the album cover or ‘Symphonic Power’ label hasn’t given it away already, Rhapsody of Fire’s conceptual and thematic focus lies purely in the fantastical. The majority of their albums link into a continuous story2 spanning, now, three full ‘sagas.’ Challenge the Wind is the final act of the trilogy comprising the Nephilim’s Empire Saga.
RoF is not a band that I’ve been following closely over the years. I am not very familiar with the overarching story here, but I do remember enjoying what I was able to pick apart in their last release. And, here, the story hinges on a prophecy which forces a mother to decide which of her newborn twin boys will be a champion of the light, and which she must surrender to the darkness, culminating in the eventual clash between brothers decades later.
The album is suitably cinematic, featuring instrumental set-pieces which support the story through tone and rhythm. The band’s Neoclassical stylings also play into these aspects of the composition, reinforcing that big, bold, truly epic sound, which honestly feels like the baseline when the album is trying to tell an epic story.
Challenge the Wind succeeds on those fronts right from the get-go, with opening and title track “Challenge the Wind” launching right into a high-energy setup featuring stacked Power/Speed guitar riffing backed by orchestral strings. This song sets the tone for what follows pretty perfectly; if the high-flying blend of Power, Symphonic, and Neoclassical on display here doesn’t suit you, then this may not be the album for you, as the tone of the album at-large is fairly well encapsulated here.
This is not to say, by the way, that the album’s depth and variety all fall within the range of the first track, as the subsequent hour of playtime ranges all over. In fact, you need only allow the intro of track two, “Whispers of Doom”, to kick off in order to hear the smallest sampling of the variety on Challenge the WInd; this song contains the first traces of the darkness and conflict which ripple through and permeate the remainder of the album.
Which, to be clear, is a long, high-energy ride. The pace rarely falls — only closer “Mastered by the Dark” gets anywhere close to being ‘downtempo’, excepting momentary shifts within songs. The most notable track on the album, for several reasons, is easily the 16-minute “Vanquished by Shadows”. It is the fourth track and takes up a fourth of the album’s playtime. This epic behemoth also features serious pace changes, and at least one hard cut — three full seconds of silence around the seven-minute mark before shifting to an entirely different melody and tone. It really feels like two separate songs cut onto the same track.
But it really works for the duality of the album’s storyline and gives us an early peak as the brothers confront one-another for the first time.
And I have to take a moment here to be perfectly clear — the specific Fantasy vibe which RoF captures on their albums, including Challenge the Wind, is the cheesy sort of black-and-white Fantasy from the 70s and 80s. I mean the chief antagonist, the one behind the prophecy and the darker brother’s corruption, is simply referred to as “The Black Wizard”. These tropes hail from the decades before shades-of-gray characterization and storytelling really took off in popularity.
And yet, there are these subtle nuances in Kreel’s (the protagonist) internal conflict, as he wrestles with the fact that this is his brother, who did nothing to deserve being given over to the darkness, and who has never known anything else. I really have to applaud Staropoli and the rest of the band for working that in, as it really pulls the album’s story forward several notches for me.
Challenge the Wind is heavy, musically and thematically, but also incredibly melodic. There are several really technical sections that shine; some strong orchestral sections which deepen and enrichen the album’s epic mood; and very few moments that don’t get me banging my head.
This is solid.
Rating: Blue
To be clear, the two bands were sibling acts, of a sort, but LTR was short-lived, going on indefinite hiatus in June 2018, after just two albums, as several band members had other commitments. The project evolved/a new project started in December 2018 as Turilli/Lione Rhapsody, which featured a full lineup of ex-Rhapsody of Fire members. This project managed to complete one album before disbanding in 2023.
Only two albums stand apart in this regard — the two immediately following Turilli’s departure (Dark Wings of Steel (2013) and Into the Legend (2016)), as he was the one who had been writing the majority of the story.