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Rhapsody - Dawn Of Victory review



Reviewer:
8.0

638 users:
8.62
Band: Rhapsody
Album: Dawn Of Victory
Release date: November 2000


Disc I
01. Lux Triumphans
02. Dawn Of Victory
03. Triumph For My Magic Steel
04. The Village Of Dwarves
05. Dargor, Shadowlord Of The Black Mountain
06. The Bloody Rage Of The Titans
07. Holy Thunderforce
08. Trolls In The Dark
09. The Last Winged Unicorn
10. The Mighty Ride Of The Firelord

Disc II [Limited Edition Boxset]
01. Guardians [Helloween cover]
02. The Mighty Ride Of The Firelord [edit version]
03. Holy Thunderforce [alternate version]
04. Triumph For My Magic Steel [alternate version]
05. Multimedia Track Featuring:
+ Holy Thunderforce [video]
+ Epicus Furor - Emerald Sword [video]
+ Wisdom Of The Kings [video]
+ Algalord Chronicles I, II III
+ Photo Gallery
+ Track Commentary
+ History
+ Screensaver [for PC use only]

Third chapter of the Algalord Chronicles created by the founding fathers of the Italian band, Luca Turilli (guitars) & Alex Staropoli (keyboards), this album takes the music of Rhapsody to a more stereotypical extent: fast music, with the same way of singing (especially in choruses), with less exclusively symphonic passages, with more guitars... closer to real power metal than before.

It starts with some narration, and then an orchestral introduction, which express more despair than hope, when the title of the album could have made you think of a happier story.
Then the title track, Dawn of Victory: it's the first time the title track isn't the last and 10th track on a Rhapsody album.
It's a speedy song, with a good guitar riff, but the end consists in the repetition of the chorus... that wouldn't be bad if it was the only track to end like this, but unfortunately, Dargor Shadowlord Of The Black Mountain and Holy Thunderforce also repeat their chorus as an ending. Those 3 songs are the catchiest ones, with some good riffs and typical choruses that you can easily sing along. Holy Thunderforce, the single from the album, is heavier than the previous releases of the band, even in the lyrics and the vocals.
There are no bad songs on this album, but no one is really original. All have fewer orchestrations than before, mainly because Turilli's amazing guitar playing (excellent sweeping technique) is present on nearly all of them. The drumming is also more traditional double bass lines throughout the songs. And the bass guitar appears less important than before.

I'll conclude by a quote from Luca taken from a French magazine: "It's funny, cause Dawn of Victory was a success, but for me, it was just an ordinary album". And I do share his opinion, cause it seems that many Rhapsody fans consider this album as one of the best, without any reason.

Written by wrathchild | 07.12.2007




Comments

Comments: 10   Visited by: 134 users
07.12.2007 - 23:00
Talvi

This is when Rhapsody went downfall. Their first and second releases were great symphonic metal, but here they became just generic flower metal. Title track and a some more tracks are great/cool, the others are very boring.
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07.12.2007 - 23:05
Rating: 8
wrathchild

Just a note: this review was published YEARS ago, but had to be "resubmitted" cause of some bug in the date, blablabla. I haven't read those reviews I wrote in my early days on MS, simply because I think they are not very good.
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La belleza no reside en lo que puedas crear, sino en lo que eres capaz de transmitir
Beauty resides not in what you're able to create, but in what you're able to communicate


Txus, Mägo De Oz
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07.12.2007 - 23:28
Ellrohir
Heaven Knight
i have to say i dont agree with Largos...i dont like the first two albums that much (though they are great) like this one and especially the masterpiece Power Of The Dragon Flame - the last one from the pentalogy

Dawn Of Victory, Triumph For My Magic Steel, The Village Of Dwarves, Holy Thunderforce, The Mighty Ride Of The Firelord - all great songs i like
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My rest seems now calm and deep
Finally I got my dead man sleep


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08.12.2007 - 12:58
Rating: 10
Katatronik
Angel of Lust
In my opinion, this is a very good album, though it's between 2 masterpieces as "Symphony Of Enchanted Lands" and "Power Of The Dragonflame"...
I love this album anyway!
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"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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10.12.2007 - 20:03
Jason W.
Razorbliss
I've never enjoyed a Rhapsody album from start to finish; there are always some lame tracks or interludes I just cannot stand. But this CD is the one I play the most, because it has many of my favorite Rhapsody songs on it. I don't think this review is bad at all, wrath, in fact, it expresses much of what I think of the disc. Great guitarwork, lots of catchy tracks, but the band's originality had already begun to fade by this point. However, their energy was still at its peak, the performance is mesmerizing, and it totally shadows the boring material they have released of late.
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"After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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11.02.2008 - 22:50
Rating: 10
+{Jonas}+
I R Serious Cat
Haha I consider this their second best,. probably because it holds the most power-metalish context... teh victory over the evil forces, fast guitars, great solos and so on...
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"Nobody wants to be the weird kid, you just end up being the weird kid. You don't know how you ended up getting there" - Rob Zombie

http://jonas-bs.deviantart.com My dA, mainly photography, go check it out!
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25.04.2008 - 16:08
Rating: 6
Uirapuru
Liver Failure
Some nice catchy/epic/nerd power metal. I like to listen to it from time to time, some beautiful melodies remember me from when I use to listen to this kind of metal everyday. XD

But its true, despite being a good album, it is seriously overratad compared to some of their other works.
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member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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11.06.2010 - 17:16
Rating: 10
Nyoink

I just LOVE this album. The only weak track is ''The last winged unicorn'',
which is just average compared to the other songs here. Holy Thunderforce has to be my fave Rhapsody song, along with Emerald Sword ^^
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19.03.2011 - 06:35
Rating: 9
FrozenJoy

This album's really good, but I don't think it is as good as most people say... Of course, there are awesome tracks as always with these guys (Dawn of Victory, Holy Thunderforce, The Bloody Rage of the Titans, and specially Trolls in the Dark, I consider it the strongest track in the whole album), but SOEL and POTD are better... At least I think so...
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26.07.2015 - 23:13
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Another good review from who should not quit reviving
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Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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