[.ca] King of the Nordic Twilight

wow. So this is where Luca's best ideas were going...:
...while he was making Power of the Dragonflame for Rhapsody. Power is great but not nearly as diverse and fantastic as this. The harpsichord on track 3 is just awesome. Flawless neoclassical, epic power metal. The best there is!

Very good indeed:
This allbum does indeed remind you a lot about rhapsody, but the symphonic elements aren't as apparent in the mix as in Rhapsody's. This album has the usual sing along choruses and all that. All in all, this album does partly sound like Rhapsody with hints of Nightwish (when Rannveig sings Princess Aurora), elsewise like Helloween, (Olaf Hayer being german explains that) but most of all it is Rhapsodyish (there's only one blues-style solo - Sascha Paeth plays in the intro of Where Heroes Lie). My favourite epic track is on this CD. Kings of the Nordic Twilight starts with soft piano , then goes into this choir accompanied with guitars, before moving into this cheerful folkish theme. And that's before Olaf has sung one note.... This epic is so much better than Prophet of the last eclipse which gets a little messy I think. Other good tracks are Legend of Steel (infectious main theme...) , Black Dragon, Princess Aurora. All songs are good, though I tend to skip the intro(1)/interlude(7) Also look out for the unlisted track 11 .. Rannveig singing an traditional nordic lullaby in Icelandic.

Amazing:
This is the side project of Rhapsody's guitarist Luca Turilli and is it ever amazing. In my opinion every song on this album rules. If you like rhapsody or Blind Guardian or any type of band like that,pick this up NOW.

hail the king!:
How very appropriate that this great man Luca Turilli should emerge from Italy, the source of so much that is fundamental to the western world and a place where the barbarity of modernism has been, on occasion, so stoutly opposed. The atmosphere of holy empire, king, blood, and soil permeates all Luca's works, as they do those of his countryman Julius Evola, that great Tolkienesque philosopher of empire and tradition that Turilli so marvelously upholds. The soaring, triumphant, mystical metal music of Luca Turilli and Rhapsody is god made flesh, god made steel, god with a vengenance against those who would work against Nature! As western civilization breathes its last, a new culture emerges from the ruins, and it seems, greatest of ironies, that it is in Italy that a new renaissance might begin, with great thinkers like Evola and great artists like Turilli to lead the way. For Turilli is the most traditional of musicians, and yet at the same time, the most cutting edge. In this album he praises the Nordic peoples, who happen to be my own forefathers. Know this! The hammers of Thor march behind the swords of Italy! Even here in the evil empire, the wolrd nerve center of mob rule, anti-spirituality and the rape of the natural environment, there are still those who keep the flame of our great Tradition alive. Doughty men stand with you against the tide of all those polluters, egalitarianists and money-worshippers who seek to overrun us with their base, callow and false ideals! Hail the Empire! Hail the King! Hail Rhapsody! And Hail Luca Turilli! (Oh, and by the way, this album is pretty much just a Rhapsody album, only the vocals are more typically pedestrian metal-style, and you can feel the loss of Starpoli's great classical compositions at times. Not that Turilli's aren't great, too).

Much better than Rhapsody:
It's hard to review a Luca Turilli record without mentioning Rhapsody at some point. Truthfully I've never understood the comparisons. Not only is Luca's side project better musically its significantly stronger in the vocal department. Luca's lead singer Olaf Hayer not only has a better voice than Rhapsody singer Fabio Lione but he also has better word annunciation and vocal control. It's been said that Lione has better range but his higher range generally sounds forced. All in all Luca Turilli is more focused on making good music where as Rhapsody tends to be the soundtrack for a Viking film. It is often said, by the way, that Princess Aurora is a weak song. Although it is somewhat out of place on the record musically it is very much on target with its subject matter and is a beautifully sung song.

• To Magic Horizons
• Black Dragon
• Legend of Steel
• Lord of the Winter Snow
• Princess Aurora
• Ancient Forest of Elves
• Throne of Ice
• Where Heroes Lie
• Warrior's Pride
• Kings of the Nordic Twilight
• untitled