Philip A. Wickstrand is a contributing freelance writer for Metal Psalter Webzine. He spoke with Rhapsody of Fire guitarist Luca Turilli on July 11, 2010, about their new album, tour plans and influences.

Since releasing their first album, Legendary Tales, in 1997, Italy's RHAPSODY OF FIRE have made a name for themselves with their unique brand of over the top Symphonic Power Metal. After a four year period spent largely under the radar, RHAPSODY OF FIRE released The Frozen Tears of Angels, their first album for Nuclear Blast, and have many people talking over their best album in years, possibly ever.

Phil: First of all, tell us a bit about the new album, The Frozen Tears of Angels.

Luca: Well, I do not know to start, I have a lot of things to say, no, but the first thing I will do is tell [unintelligible] had the possibility to come out with a new release after so many years of silence. And you know, to stay silent for a long time is not easy, no? Because if you are creative, like me, for example. I'm so happy to be out with this new release and that this release is being welcomed in such a way, entering so many charts, so this means [unintelligible] the people after such a long time that it's easy to forget about the band. [laughs]

Phil: What was the song writing process like?

Luca: The typical one of RHAPSODY. Probably you would not know, but it is very different from most the other bands, no? The typical compositive process in the sense that maybe the bands, they create the songs in the rehearsing room starting from the music, wherefore RHAPSODY is completely different - we start from the lyrics from the saga that is leading everything. So I meet Alex, the keyboard player, no, and we together, we compose all the music. There are some exceptions where it involves Fabio (singer), but rarely, no? Usually from the beginning, I and Alex read everything and so I meet him, I tell him what the lyrics are about, with the emotion and the feelings of the part of this chapter of the saga we should underline, the instrument we should use to accent this emotion more than the other and then in the end, we put down the basic orchestral arrangement and the basic song and then that's it, no? But the great difference is that I really start on paper, no? Deciding which new things will be included in the album and I think this is something different, but gives you a lot of advantages while composing.

Phil: What was the time in the studio like this time around?

Luca: The time was fantastic because we remember looking back at 1998 when we released our second album, Symphony of Enchanted Lands, I remember we spent four months in the studio, it was unbelievable. [laughs] And now it's fantastic - we stayed fourteen days I think and everything's flowing. You know, I and Alex was the producer, completely the album this time in the studio, so we knew exactly what we wanted, everything was clear, the vision, everything, so the recording, no problems.

Phil: What are your favorite tracks off the album?

Luca: Well, when you compose an album… not that we include some songs that we don't like, so for RHAPSODY, the perfect album when we put the songs that us like the one or for another more so, so one day, you would prefer one song and the other, you'd prefer another song, you know? But let's say, most of the people like songs like "Reign of Terror" or "Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio" to represent the opposite, for example. We would like [unintelligible] RHAPSODY album to have songs sounding very different from eachother. And as you see, as I told you, there are these two types, "Reign of Terror" and "Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio" that have opposite sides. And so, these reflect also our personal tastes and that's why when one day we feel more relaxed, we prefer to listen a folk song like "Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio" and when we are in the car driving it can be "Reign of Terror" [unintelligible] for the atmosphere. [laughs]

Phil: Will there be any videos recorded from the album beyond the one already done for "Sea of Fate"?

Luca: No, no, no… you know why? Because the video [unintelligible] to RHAPSODY is very complicated in the sense that in the [unintelligible] will make some video, but we don't want to make the same mistake that we did in the past, so this means that all you have, an incredible budget that goes far over one hundred thousand dollars and so you make something that is really looking epic and fantastic… I remember that is in our case, no? It is visually spectacular or is better these low budget videos without special effects. It's easy to make a normal video with a low profile, but serious, no? And it is what we decided to do for "Sea of Fate".

Phil: Can we expect a more extensive North American tour for this album?

Luca: Yes, absolutely! [unintelligible] we play some festivals and then shortly we'll do some shows in the U.S. Still everything has to be decided, but right now we are planning the worldwide tour, so we know that we start in South America in November, in Asia and then January and February we'll be headlining in Europe and then somewhat in-between or immediately after will be also in U.S. because [unintelligible] in the paper and the people are great.

Phil: Any idea if you're doing a headlining tour or as a support act for another band?

Luca: It's very easy that we play a headliner tour this time, no? Because, I mean, we had the possibility to [unintelligible] to this position and the stuff, so of course this is what every band wants to do, no? [laughs]

Phil: Who do you want to tour with?

Luca: Oh my God… I have no idea. For me there is not a special combination. [laughs] As long as we have the possibility to play one hour a night, I don't ask anything else. [laughter]

Phil: It's been since 2006 that you've released an album under DREAM QUEST or your self-named band, when can expect another?

Luca: Well, now we see, no? Because now, of course, the top priority was RHAPSODY and right now we are working on new stuff for RHAPSODY, no? 'Cause after so long a time of silence, we now want to really… to not make the same way again, two or three years before the new release, no? So we are working already on new stuff and so this means that I'm really concentrating totally on the band. And then as soon as this new stuff will be released, already we go back to [unintelligible]. What I can tell is that the second album was already recorded a lot of time ago, no, and so, will see the light sooner.

Phil: What can we expect from this new RHAPSODY material that has yet to be released?

Luca: Oh my God - you want to know already? Because the album was just released! [laughter] No, I mean, we follow the saga, no? The saga is real particular in RHAPSODY - it's leading the composition, it's leading how an album will sound, which would be the kind of impact that we want to have, so we base everything on it. [unintelligible] how the next album will sound, it's like you say, [unintelligible] to surprise, no, so we prefer to keep this silent.

Phil: Fair enough. What Classical composer do you really enjoy and would consider an influence on your own music?

Luca: For me, Classical music is everything, no? I like Heavy Metal because of this, because for me it's… what there was before in the Classical music in the old times, you had this incredible power, the power of music, no? It was the best Classical music in those old times. And now the Metal is the top of the most powerful music you can get in our days, no - it is the prosecution of the Classical music. [unintelligible] bombastic and that's why we create RHAPSODY with different things in, no, to play this music. Let's say that I started with the typical influences of many artists that incorporated the Classical in the making their sound, so [unintelligible] Paganini, Bach, for sure. But then I discovered many other artists when I was playing piano, because I play keyboards, too. So I discovered Chopin, fell totally in love with Chopin because of the romanticism of his compositions and then, I don't know, lately then you know you grow as artists, you feel the need to express yourself in a different direction and so I started listening to composers like Stravinsky, Debussy, [unintelligible]. I think that every composer, they created really to listen to a lot of different artists, no, because it's really more easy to compose something one direction or in the other, you can really compose whatever you have in mind. So it's important to know many, many, many composers and musical [unintelligible]. Of course, what I can tell you, that in the end is the difference why RHAPSODY became known at the worldwide level, many have said well, because while other bands were influenced by the typical Classical music, then we decided to incorporate a kind of different Classical music that is the one typically related to the soundtracks, no? I remember at the movies [unintelligible] for "Batman" that the soundtrack was composed by Danny Elfman and I totally fell in love with this new Classical music, no, because there was also the visual impact. It was fantastic! So we decided with Alex together to incorporate these in our music and that's why we like to the record company define our music as Film Score Metal, no, because it is a bit different, slightly different from the typical theatrical influences.

Phil: Recommend a book for our readers and then tell why you recommend that particular work.

Luca: Ah. [laughs] You're going to be disappointed because I'm not a big reader. [laughs] Because when I read, I prefer to read texts of psychology and pathology, philosophy, spiritual evolution are the things that inspire me writing the lyrics of the saga and the [unintelligible] as they work together to make the forces related to the daily life, the problems surrounding [unintelligible]. So in the end, many people think that I'm a big reader of scientific books or things like that, but the only book that I was able to finish was the "Dracula", Bram Stoker, when I was fifteen, sixteen years old. [laughs]

Rhapsody of Fire's Luca Turilli

Interviewer: Philip A. Wickstrand

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Formed 1995
Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia ITALY
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Genre: Symphonic Power Metal

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Fabio Lione:  Vocals
Luca Turilli:  Lead Guitars
Alex Staropoli:  Keyboards, Piano
                                & Harpsichord
Patrice Guers:  Bass
Alex Holzwarth:  Drums & Percussion

DISCOGRAPHY:

Legendary Tales (1997)
Symphony of Enchanted Lands (1998)
Dawn of Victory (2000)
Rain of a Thousand Flames (2001)
Power of the Dragonflame+DVD:
                                            Box Set (2002)
Power of the Dragonflame (2002)
Tales From The Emerald Sword Saga:
                                Best of/Comp. (2004)
The Dark Secret EP (2004)
Symphony of Enchanted Lands II:
                           The Dark Secret (2004)
Live in Canada 2005: The Dark Secret
                                                          (2006)
Triumph or Agony (2006)
Visions from the Enchanted Lands
                                                 DVD (2007)
The Frozen Tears of Angels (2010)

(Click on Photo to Enlarge)

August 1, 2010