By Jason Wellwood
Rhapsody of Fire seems to have gone from 0 to 100 in the last few years. The output from the band has not only been exceptional, it’s been coming at a more rapid pace. From Chaos To Eternity is the third release from the band in the last year, and it’s obvious that the band had this album planned out well in advance of the last EP. While the acting on this album is definitely less prominent than on the EP you still get a good dose of Christopher Lee in the intro and final song on the album, which is never a bad thing. Personally, I think someone needs to produce a movie based on the music of Rhapsody of Fire (and of course use the band to score it) as the band have become masters at creating movies in listener’s brains. With From Chaos To Eternity, the band shows a progression in instrumentation and song writing from previous outings. ‘Aeons of Raging Darkness’ is by far the most aggressive song I’ve heard from the band, and the black metal/evil goblin vocals on the track definitely bring the dark side of the song to the fore. Of course, the choral chanting in ‘I Belong To The Stars’ along with the clean vocals brings the light out in the album once again. The band seem to have mastered the ‘push/pull’ of good versus evil in their music and are stretching out a little more. In fact, the twenty minute ‘Heroes of the Waterfalls’ Kingdom’ moves like a classical piece but also still manages to bring out some very heavy (for Rhapsody of Fire) drums, blistering guitar and again, those evil vocals. From Chaos To Eternity is a definite journey and a memorable one at that.
And so ends the epic journey that Rhapsody of Fire has been taking us on for fifteen years and ten releases. I have to admit that it’s pretty bittersweet, as good as From Chaos to Eternity is; I feel it should have been a bit more epic. The finale to such a huge, sweeping overall piece of musical work, in my mind should have been much grander. However, From Chaos To Eternity stands very well on its own and does hint at some new, more progressive directions from Rhapsody of Fire in the future.
(Nuclear Blast)
