Away Team

Next year, guitarist / composer Luca Turilli will debut his new band – which includes guitarist Dominique Leurquin, bassist Patrice Guers, and drummer Alex Holzwarth - as RHAPSODY. The new album will also feature a full choir and orchestra and present the RHAPSODY’s new lead singer.

More news to come on December 19th.

As previously announced this past August, Luca Turilli and keyboard player Alex Staropoli decided on an amicable split.

After 15 years of friendship, hard work, passion fully invested in the creation of symphonic music, and an epic saga that will remain embedded in the history of heavy metal, RHAPSODY OF FIRE keyboard player Alex Staropoli and guitarist / composer Luca Turilli have decided on an amicable split.

“10 albums released and the end of the saga represent – musically and lyrically – an important artistic goal finally reached, underlined by the success of our last release From Chaos To Eternity, for which we want to thank our wonderful fans once again. Now it came the time when new artistic stimulations need to be found, in respect to both parties’ visions and perspectives and of our longtime friendship,” say Luca and Alex.

Due to the latest legal agreements currently in force, Alex Staropoli will go on with the RHAPSODY OF FIRE name keeping singer Fabio Lione, drummer Alex Holzwarth, and guitarist Tom Hess.

Following the same agreements and the original name’s common ownership, guitarist Luca Turilli will release his future works with a new band as RHAPSODY, which will include guitarist Dominique Leurquin, bassist Patrice Guers, and drummmer Alex Holzwarth.

Alex says: “While wishing the best to Luca and his new band, I want to tell you that Fabio and myself feel motivated and stronger than ever and that RHAPSODY OF FIRE are already planning a great worldwide tour. More information regarding the new bass player and the new second guitar player will follow. Stay tuned!”

For more RHAPSODY OF FIRE click here.
Fore more… just RHAPSODY click here.

AN EDITORIAL—-
Really??? You are leaving the band you have been in for 15 years, and you are starting your own band… with the same name (ish)? Did we not learn anything from L.A. GUNS people? I know there are more bands out there touring under the same moniker, but they aren’t necessarily making new music. This guy is leaving an established act, and going to do a new band, but take part of the name, for the recognition factor of course.

Look, you want to leave your band? Do it. Leave. But leave the name, go and be in a new band. Just call it something else for fuck’s sake.

RHAPSODY OF FIRE‘s Italian composer, guitarist, producer and teacher Luca Turilli offers additional commentary explaining the lyrics on The Cold Embrace Of Fear – A Dark Romantic Symphony and its connection to The Frozen Tears Of Angels.

“Essentially it is a long huge song, sounding very symphonic, full of orchestral sections that are very soundtrack oriented with narrations and spoken parts. More than in other cases, we tried to create a real movie atmosphere with very dynamic musical results. You will just need to close your eyes and explore those new emotional dimensions we wrote the music for.”

“After the long journey to the icy, frozen northlands at the borders of the known world, while facing concrete natural obstacles and the inner-demons lying in the depths of their conscience, the five main characters reach the ancient gothic fortress of Har-Kuun, the real monument of evil trapped between ice and snow, the mystic place where Erian’s book could be finally found. The Cold Embrace Of Fear tells about the entrance of those bravehearts in the ancestral world of Har-Kuun and the dramatic search for the holy book of the angels, the only possible way to understand something more about the dark secret threatening the whole known world. Also, in this case, I liked to create particular ‘bridges’ connecting the new chapter of the saga with our modern life on the basis of symbolism, ancient wisdom, and spiritual evolution. To someone who knows something about modern psychology and the study of the different ‘selves,’ the hidden geometries and gothic labyrinths of Har-Kuun will reveal themselves very clearly.”

The Cold Embrace Of Fear will be released in North America on January 25th, 2011.

Produced by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli, the tracklisting for The Cold Embrace Of Fear – A Dark Romantic Symphony is as follows:
Act I: The Pass Of Nair-Kaan
Act II: Dark Mystic Vision
Act III: The Ancient Fires Of Har-Kuun
Act IV: The Betrayal
Act V: Neve Rosso Sangue
Act VI: Erian’s Lost Secrets
Act VII: The Angels’ Dark Revelation

RHAPSODY OF FIRE are: Luca Turilli on guitar, Alex Staropoli on keyboards, Fabio Lione on vocals, Patrice Guers on bass, Dominique Leurquin on guitar, and Alex Holzwarth on drums.









For more RHAPSODY OF FIRE click here.