Ok time for me to get shit from the UM community but I have been listening back to all the Rhapsody albums this past week and I decided that I really love the band and I got to thinking about why this band always gets slammed by most metal fans, although their albums sell tremendously well apparently, go figure. So I thought I would look at it logically and present my opinions to everyone here.
Let's look at why they are cheesy first. There's their narrator who is so bad at speaking that it becomes humorous just to listen to him. There is the storyline to their albums which is spread out over their five releases and has the plot, originality, and character development of a third rate NES RPG from the late 80's, which in turn makes their lyrics very stupid, and they are at the core a power metal band which automatically makes the cyncial american metal fans dismiss them as shit because it seems to me the overall feel of american metal fans is that they want darkness, aggression and evil and anything contrary is "gay." And power metal has that nasty tendency to be happy.
But as I listened to rhapsody I made some observations. As I really paid attention to the parts the band members play I realize that they are probably the second most musically interesting power metal band out there, with Blind Guardian being the best imo. They have many layers of music, lots of counterpoint, and so many dynamic changes that make the music complex and interesting without overly relying on tech-y shit and trying to impress musicians. Contrast this with most power metal bands who rely on three or four power chords to make up their song because they are just trying to be a cheap helloween copy and think that by putting harmonies over the top of the chords they are making real "interesting" music. Fucking Rhapsody's harmonies in the guitar and keyboard and the other parts destroy any of those bands imo.
Next we have Luca Turilli who while being to blame for their horrendous stories and lyrics is the most versatile guitarist i have heard in awhile. His chops as a rhythm player and lead player are flawless. He shreds with ease and with actual emotion and phrasing and the riffs he writes for the band are so fucking good. Again he doesn't rely exclusively on power chords, he actually uses melodic themes in the riffs and even when they are playing faster than shit he never loses his precision, speed, and technique. To me his performances as a rhythm player on their albums put most thrash or death metal wannabes to shame.
i could go on for days about what is awesome about this band, i mean the epic chopirs which are always awesome, the way they use strings and flutes compositionally, the fact that they make Yngwie Malmsteem who is the supposed "king" of neo-classical metal look like a hack, etc. I think my main problem with the band is that i want to hear what they could do with a real orchestra instead alot of the synths they tend to rely on because nothing beats the real thing. So I leave with the question of why did I feel so guilty liking this band for so long? Its obvious to me I love them almost as much as Blind Guardian and I have stopped listening to most other power metal bands because they bore me to death but Rhapsody continually puts out at least a few amazing songs on each album and for brightening my day with their music I say more power to them.
fin
Let's look at why they are cheesy first. There's their narrator who is so bad at speaking that it becomes humorous just to listen to him. There is the storyline to their albums which is spread out over their five releases and has the plot, originality, and character development of a third rate NES RPG from the late 80's, which in turn makes their lyrics very stupid, and they are at the core a power metal band which automatically makes the cyncial american metal fans dismiss them as shit because it seems to me the overall feel of american metal fans is that they want darkness, aggression and evil and anything contrary is "gay." And power metal has that nasty tendency to be happy.
But as I listened to rhapsody I made some observations. As I really paid attention to the parts the band members play I realize that they are probably the second most musically interesting power metal band out there, with Blind Guardian being the best imo. They have many layers of music, lots of counterpoint, and so many dynamic changes that make the music complex and interesting without overly relying on tech-y shit and trying to impress musicians. Contrast this with most power metal bands who rely on three or four power chords to make up their song because they are just trying to be a cheap helloween copy and think that by putting harmonies over the top of the chords they are making real "interesting" music. Fucking Rhapsody's harmonies in the guitar and keyboard and the other parts destroy any of those bands imo.
Next we have Luca Turilli who while being to blame for their horrendous stories and lyrics is the most versatile guitarist i have heard in awhile. His chops as a rhythm player and lead player are flawless. He shreds with ease and with actual emotion and phrasing and the riffs he writes for the band are so fucking good. Again he doesn't rely exclusively on power chords, he actually uses melodic themes in the riffs and even when they are playing faster than shit he never loses his precision, speed, and technique. To me his performances as a rhythm player on their albums put most thrash or death metal wannabes to shame.
i could go on for days about what is awesome about this band, i mean the epic chopirs which are always awesome, the way they use strings and flutes compositionally, the fact that they make Yngwie Malmsteem who is the supposed "king" of neo-classical metal look like a hack, etc. I think my main problem with the band is that i want to hear what they could do with a real orchestra instead alot of the synths they tend to rely on because nothing beats the real thing. So I leave with the question of why did I feel so guilty liking this band for so long? Its obvious to me I love them almost as much as Blind Guardian and I have stopped listening to most other power metal bands because they bore me to death but Rhapsody continually puts out at least a few amazing songs on each album and for brightening my day with their music I say more power to them.
fin
, I love them, hehe.
