Song By song review of Prophet of the last eclipse.
Aenigma - Spacy keyboard soundscape. already it is sounding different than before. It seems as though Luca wanted to go for the spacy-atmospheric effect rather than the medieval thing he does in his day job. nice choirs in this opener which leads on to the first track proper.
War of the universe - Lots of spacy keys and classical arrangements to begin. Guitars are fairly quiet and restrained - Not Good. Rhapsody is way heavier than this. Chorus time and it's fairly catchy though very underwhelming. Vocals are good, I like Olaf hayer. Very good operatic female vox as backing. great orchestration but low on Metal content luca!! Decent solos though and the chorus is sinking in better by the end.
Zaephyr Skies' Theme - instrumental starts off very restrained and builds a little with spacy atmospheres and a gentle operatic female soprano doing ahhahhas. Very classical sounding with some restrained guitar from Luca. strange to have an instrumental already as the 3rd track. Well I say instrumental meaning that Olaf doesn't sing! A very atmospheric track that would suit a Sci-fi movie down to a tee. Luca is desparate to write a movie soundtrack I think!!
Rider of the astral Fire - more epic and glorious classical arrangements this time with shredding guitars coming suddenly in just as you would know and expect. Speedy double bass track with a great vocal melody in the verse. Hey luca this is more like it!! Give the fans some shred, dude! Chorus time and Luca once again has discovered his touch. This is awesome! amazing tune with some very spacy and atmospheric dancy keyboard beats and sounds. Very cool indeed!
The age of mystic ice - more of those spacy strange bleepy keys and this time heavier guitar riffs from luca. More epic operatic voices and stop start riffs. A more restrained pace and less bombastic vocals from Olaf. Drum pace picks up on the chorus and it's quite a catchy melody. A different tune that works well as part of the album. You basically have to hear this stuff as there is so many layers and effects going on underneath the vox. There is some serious orchestration in this music!
Prince of the starlight - a song that was on the Demonheart EP and it is an awesome song. Truly great! Epic sci-fi tinged keys, awesome riffs and full bodied melodic vocals. Magical song! Double bass shred and brilliant orchestration. No wonder he put it on the EP!!
Timeless Ocean - Spacy effect laden keys setting an atmospheric scene with once again movie soundtrack qualities. Olaf sings slowly over the top. Not sounding too great it has to be said when not singing fast. Hey maybe it's not him as some backing harmony vocals kicking in which sound way more like him. This is a ballad no doubt. Gentle piano and atmospheres build and power chords invade for the chorus to beef it up a bit. Operatic choirs provide backing throughout to add an ethereal quality to make it melancholy. Don't like this track really. Had to have a ballad I suppose!!!
New Century's Tarantella - Ha!! Pan pipes from south America begin with a nice melody and suddenly heavy power chords invade and set a steady rhythm and then what's this accordion is accompanying the vox and guitars in the background! Luca has thrown everything but the kitchen sink in here!. A celtic folf/native american stylee track. The chorus is very cool and soon the accordion returns and it sounds like Finntroll's polka folk metal! Ha! I wasn't expecting this shit! A really fun track and Luca really went for it with crazy instrumentation and arrangements. You have to hear this track to believe it!!!!
Demonheart - From the Demonheart EP. one of the best songs here and almost my favourite. This is one really cool track! Truly a magical chorus. Sounds like a Rhapsody apart from the vocals. Everything else is pure day job material. The only thing that is different are the keys which are more spacy and bleepy than in Rhapsody where they are more majestic and medieval. The chorus is fantastic in this tune and really captures you with it's intriguing melody and twist. Riffs and meldies are cathy as hell. If you love Rhapsody you will love this tune!
Prophet of the last eclipse - The 12 minute pic and final track of the album. (A shortened version appears on the EP)Starts off with operatic monk-like chanting from both male and female choirs setting an epic mood already. Strange bleepy keys enter the soundscape and then some guitar chords and then suddenly massive guitar shreds. The operatic vocals pearce the air with wails and no Olaf yet! Hey this amazing stuff. You really have to hear this. Finally the vocals appear as from the EP it's a great tune and you will love the melody. The keys are once again an integral ingredient and are really a new venture for Luca as they are very different to Rhapsody. A great way to end this CD with epic melodies mixed with unique classical arrangements. could do without the baby crying at one point!! Don't know what Luca was thinking there!! But then the glorious guitar work soon returns and Olaf kicks back with his melodies, choirs soar above it all to add atmosphere. Finally we are back to te opening salvo which is really something you have to hear as i cannot really do it justice with words due to te multi layers at work.
Overall rating would be a 8.5/10. The Demonheart EP was fantastic and really whet the appetite for the main feature. Given that two of those EP songs appear here and they are the best ones, I expected a little more from this. But tghis work from Luca is really amazing. This man should really be writing fantasy movie soundtracks. I'm not sure if this is better than his first solo but it sure is very different and he didn't repeat himself. For me this can't beat Rhapsody though. Rhapsody is a little bit more metal than this and rocks much harder. But this music is worth your buck if you love symphonic epic hollywoood metal with a twist of the avant garde!
Aenigma - Spacy keyboard soundscape. already it is sounding different than before. It seems as though Luca wanted to go for the spacy-atmospheric effect rather than the medieval thing he does in his day job. nice choirs in this opener which leads on to the first track proper.
War of the universe - Lots of spacy keys and classical arrangements to begin. Guitars are fairly quiet and restrained - Not Good. Rhapsody is way heavier than this. Chorus time and it's fairly catchy though very underwhelming. Vocals are good, I like Olaf hayer. Very good operatic female vox as backing. great orchestration but low on Metal content luca!! Decent solos though and the chorus is sinking in better by the end.
Zaephyr Skies' Theme - instrumental starts off very restrained and builds a little with spacy atmospheres and a gentle operatic female soprano doing ahhahhas. Very classical sounding with some restrained guitar from Luca. strange to have an instrumental already as the 3rd track. Well I say instrumental meaning that Olaf doesn't sing! A very atmospheric track that would suit a Sci-fi movie down to a tee. Luca is desparate to write a movie soundtrack I think!!
Rider of the astral Fire - more epic and glorious classical arrangements this time with shredding guitars coming suddenly in just as you would know and expect. Speedy double bass track with a great vocal melody in the verse. Hey luca this is more like it!! Give the fans some shred, dude! Chorus time and Luca once again has discovered his touch. This is awesome! amazing tune with some very spacy and atmospheric dancy keyboard beats and sounds. Very cool indeed!
The age of mystic ice - more of those spacy strange bleepy keys and this time heavier guitar riffs from luca. More epic operatic voices and stop start riffs. A more restrained pace and less bombastic vocals from Olaf. Drum pace picks up on the chorus and it's quite a catchy melody. A different tune that works well as part of the album. You basically have to hear this stuff as there is so many layers and effects going on underneath the vox. There is some serious orchestration in this music!
Prince of the starlight - a song that was on the Demonheart EP and it is an awesome song. Truly great! Epic sci-fi tinged keys, awesome riffs and full bodied melodic vocals. Magical song! Double bass shred and brilliant orchestration. No wonder he put it on the EP!!
Timeless Ocean - Spacy effect laden keys setting an atmospheric scene with once again movie soundtrack qualities. Olaf sings slowly over the top. Not sounding too great it has to be said when not singing fast. Hey maybe it's not him as some backing harmony vocals kicking in which sound way more like him. This is a ballad no doubt. Gentle piano and atmospheres build and power chords invade for the chorus to beef it up a bit. Operatic choirs provide backing throughout to add an ethereal quality to make it melancholy. Don't like this track really. Had to have a ballad I suppose!!!
New Century's Tarantella - Ha!! Pan pipes from south America begin with a nice melody and suddenly heavy power chords invade and set a steady rhythm and then what's this accordion is accompanying the vox and guitars in the background! Luca has thrown everything but the kitchen sink in here!. A celtic folf/native american stylee track. The chorus is very cool and soon the accordion returns and it sounds like Finntroll's polka folk metal! Ha! I wasn't expecting this shit! A really fun track and Luca really went for it with crazy instrumentation and arrangements. You have to hear this track to believe it!!!!
Demonheart - From the Demonheart EP. one of the best songs here and almost my favourite. This is one really cool track! Truly a magical chorus. Sounds like a Rhapsody apart from the vocals. Everything else is pure day job material. The only thing that is different are the keys which are more spacy and bleepy than in Rhapsody where they are more majestic and medieval. The chorus is fantastic in this tune and really captures you with it's intriguing melody and twist. Riffs and meldies are cathy as hell. If you love Rhapsody you will love this tune!
Prophet of the last eclipse - The 12 minute pic and final track of the album. (A shortened version appears on the EP)Starts off with operatic monk-like chanting from both male and female choirs setting an epic mood already. Strange bleepy keys enter the soundscape and then some guitar chords and then suddenly massive guitar shreds. The operatic vocals pearce the air with wails and no Olaf yet! Hey this amazing stuff. You really have to hear this. Finally the vocals appear as from the EP it's a great tune and you will love the melody. The keys are once again an integral ingredient and are really a new venture for Luca as they are very different to Rhapsody. A great way to end this CD with epic melodies mixed with unique classical arrangements. could do without the baby crying at one point!! Don't know what Luca was thinking there!! But then the glorious guitar work soon returns and Olaf kicks back with his melodies, choirs soar above it all to add atmosphere. Finally we are back to te opening salvo which is really something you have to hear as i cannot really do it justice with words due to te multi layers at work.
Overall rating would be a 8.5/10. The Demonheart EP was fantastic and really whet the appetite for the main feature. Given that two of those EP songs appear here and they are the best ones, I expected a little more from this. But tghis work from Luca is really amazing. This man should really be writing fantasy movie soundtracks. I'm not sure if this is better than his first solo but it sure is very different and he didn't repeat himself. For me this can't beat Rhapsody though. Rhapsody is a little bit more metal than this and rocks much harder. But this music is worth your buck if you love symphonic epic hollywoood metal with a twist of the avant garde!
