Rhapsody of Fire

Rhapsody of Fire is a Symphonic Metal band that originated in Italy in 1993, spending about a week of this period as 'Thundercross'. Co-founded and led by Luca Turilli (lead guitar) and Alex Staropoli (Keyboard), others include Fabio Lione (vocals), Alex Holzwarth (drums) and Patrice Guers (bass). One of the things that makes them notable among Symphonic Metal bands is that all of their songs tell of events, people, places and things in a highly detailed Epic Fantasy, Lord of the Rings-esque setting.

They have since released eight albums, with two E Ps, Rain of a Thousand Flames and The Cold Embrace of Fear – A Dark Romantic Symphony, commonly referred to as the fourth and ninth albums in the series, respectively. The band has stated that From Chaos to Eternity (2011) marks the end of the Algalord Chronicles, 14 years after Legendary Tales was released in 1997.

As for now, the Rhapsody are now split in two bands: the original Rhapsody of Fire and Luca Turilli's Rhapsody.

Discography:

• Legendary Tales (1997)
• Symphony of Enchanted Lands (1998)
• Dawn of Victory (2000)
• Power of the Dragonflame (2002)
• Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret (2004)
• Triumph or Agony (2006)
• The Frozen Tears of Angels (2010)
• From Chaos to Eternity (2011)

Rhapsody of Fire provides examples of the following tropes:

• AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: Tons in "Sea of Fate". FragMENTS of torTURED existENCE reVEALing cold WHISpers.... Justified as english is not their main language.
• Acid Pool: Used by Akron to dispose of Airin and Arwald's remains. Arwald's however throw some of the acid at the Warrior, melting the chains that were keeping him shut.
• Action Girl: Princess Lothen is implied to be one, given that she goes with the other heroes into Dar-Kunor.
• Album Title Drop: All of them have one.
  • Power of the Dragonflame has title-drops of all the previous albums in the last song, "Gargoyles, Angels of Darkness".
• All There in the Manual: The official website has a more detailed explanation of the story of the Emerald Sword saga, revealing things that might have been missed by just listening to the songs.
• Artifact of Doom: The seventh black book in the Dark Secret saga. The Emerald Sword can be one if used by the wrong person, given that it was filled with the power of angels. Akron gets a hold of it towards the end of the Emerald Sword Saga.
• Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence: Dargor. First an Ascended Extra with the beginning of the Dark Secret saga, in the final act of the final song in the Algalord Chronicles, he is chosen by "the gods and the angels" to become Earth's new God of Light
• The Atoner: Dargor.
• Barbarian Hero: The Warrior of Ice.
• Big Bad: King Akron and then Dark Lord Nekron (what do they have against the syllabe "Kron"?).
  • Nekron is actually the son of the hellgod Kron, ironically enough.
• Bigger Bad: Kron.
• Big Damn Heroes: Tharos when he saves the Warrior of Ice twice.
• Bilingual Bonus: Some of the songs have little bits in Italian or even Latin here and there, and four songs so far ("Lamento Eroico", "Guardiani del Destino", "Il Canto del Vento" and "Danza di Fuoco e Ghiaccio") are entirely in Italian, not counting Christopher Lee's narration at the start of "Danza di Fuoco e Ghiaccio".
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Tharos the dragon in the Emerald Sword Saga. The hero breaks the spell by defeating him in battle and choosing not to kill him.
• Call Back: In the Emerald Sword saga, the Warrior of Ice flees from Halgor by throwing himself in the underground river Aigor. In the Dark Secret Saga the same trick is used by our heroes to flee from the hordes of the living dead.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: There's the seven black books and the "White Dragon's Order", the official (in-universe) name for the group of heroes in the Dark Secret Saga, for one.
• Continuity Nod: "The Myth of the Holy Sword" references the general plot and ending of the Emerald Sword Saga.
  • "Never Forgotten Heroes" is in remembrance of the dead heroes of the Emerald Sword Saga. In addition, "Aeons of Raging Darkness" appears to be about Airin.
• Damsel in Distress: Airin is kept hostage by king Akron along with many other brave knights.
• Darker and Edgier: Triumph or Agony, The Cold Embrace of Fear, and From Chaos to Eternity have black metal-style screams.
• Dark Mistress: The Queen of the Dark Horizons is described as the lover of Kron.
• Defeat Means Friendship: The dragon Tharos. After the hero defeats him, it's revealed that he was under a spell and defeating him broke it. He joins the heroes after that. Dargor is also a borderline example, though it takes several defeats to finally convince him to switch sides (and the hero saving his life helped too).
• Defiant to the End: Agony is my Name is this combined with Badass Boast.
• Epic Rocking: The best examples would be "Gargoyles, Angels of Darkness" at 19:02 and "The Mystic Prophecy of the Demonknight" at 16:26.
  • Not to mention The Cold Embrace of Fear. It is an entire album that consists of one song. One 35 minute long song, in seven sections. Now that is epic rocking.
  • The Mystic Prophecy of the Demonknight flows directly into the next song, Dark Reign of Fire. If you count the two as one song, it lasts for nearly 23 minutes.
  • And now, on From Chaos to Eternity, "Heroes of the Waterfalls Kingdom" at 19:42.
• Establishing Character Moment: "Warrior of Ice" introduces the titular hero with him swearing to destroy the forces of evil (in the most wonderfully hammy way possible).
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even Dargor is disgusted by Airin's fate and has to leave the cave. This is probably his first step towards the Heel Face Turn.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Princess Airin in the Emerald Sword Saga and Princess Lothen in the Dark Secret Saga.
• Evil Overlord: Akron is a textbook example. If possible he's even more Genre Savvy than your everyday dark lord.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Dark Tower of Abyss where the Emerald Sword is kept. Halgor is this Up to Eleven according to Heart of the Darklands:

A whole town built from the rock, as giant as a mountain
Portals made from angels' bones to warn men, elves and dragons.

• Executive Meddling: Due to reasons yet to be disclosed by the band, Rhapsody went on a three-year hiatus with their label, Magic Circle Music. As of 2009, they have now found a new label in Nuclear Blast.
• Eye Scream: Akron gets stabbed in the eye with the Emerald Sword towards the end of the Emerald Sword Saga.
• Face Heel Turn: Tarish. Though whether he was always working for the Black Order or was corrupted by the power of the book isn't entirely clear.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Airin and Arwald. The former is raped by demons, the latter tortured to death, both are thrown in a pit full of acid. Later both Akron and the Warrior are devoured alive by watersnakes.
• Five-Man Band - In the Dark Secret saga. We have Khaas (the leader, hero of the middle lands), Iras Algor (a wizard from Hor-Lad), Lothen (a princess from the kingdom of the ancient waterfalls), Tarish (elven king of the caverns) and Dargor (a half-demon and shadowlord of the black mountain).
• Foreign Sounding Gibberish: Occasionally done, such as the Elvish-style whispering in "Dar-Kunor" and the Orcish-style demonic growling at the start of "Erian's Mystical Rhymes - The White Dragon's Order".
• Green Aesop - Defenders of Gaia, a bonus track on the special edition of Triumph or Agony. Maybe somewhat out of place, but certainly one of the more metal Green Aesops you will hear.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Dargor is half demon. Until he becomes a god.
• Heel Face Turn - Dargor, towards the end of the Emerald Sword Saga. He's one of the heroes in the Dark Secret saga.
  • Never mind also becoming a god
• Heroic Sacrifice - Tharos the dragon spend a lot of time saving the hero from powerful enemies, eventually giving his life
  • The hero himself makes one at the very end, killing Akron by pulling him down into the marsh where they are both devoured by snakes.
• Hey, It's That Voice! - Yes, that is Saruman narrating. Several times. And singing on a special version of "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream".
  • If you listen very carefully, you can hear him doing backing vocals for the chorus of the album version of "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream."
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Akron is tossed by Dargor's final attack onto the platform where the Warrior was tortured, is impaled by his own Emerald Sword and is lowered into the marsh, where watersnakes feast on his body.
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: Dragons show up a few times; one named Tharos even plays a major part in the story early on. In the Dark Secret Saga, the party travel through "Dragonland", which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
  • There's also Thanor, the black dragon steed/servant of Nekron, who was turned to stone after betraying his master. He returns to life briefly to aid the heroes in destroying the seven demons towards the end of From Chaos to Eternity.
• It Got Worse: After the Dawn of Victory album - story-wise, anyway.
• Large Ham: Fabio is just a Large Ham by default, really. Listen to "Tears of a Dying Angel". Even better, listen to the track before that, "Queen of the Dark Horizons". SOOODOOMY, PEEESTILEENCE, TOOORTUUURE AND BLOOODSHEEEED!
• MacGuffin: The Emerald Sword in the first saga, the Seventh Black Book in the Dark Secret Saga.
• MacGuffin Guardian: When our heroes remove the Black Book from the altar of Dar Kunor, they trigger a Zombie Apocalypse and are forced to flee, chased by countless living dead.
• Mordor: The whole Halgor and Dar-Kunor might well be this.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Basically all the villains have these. Dargor, Akron, and especially Nekron.
• Noble Demon: All together now... "DAARGOOR, SHADOWLORD OOOOF THE BLAAACK MOOOOOUUUNTAAAAAIN~"!
• No Name Given: The hero of the Emerald Sword saga. He's referred to by many titles, including "Warrior of Ice" and "Hero of the Northern Lands", but we never get to hear his actual name.
  • The Queen of the Dark Horizons/of the Dead/of the Damned is described as The Unpronounceable.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: In several songs, including Reign of Terror and Triumph or Agony.
• Our Gargoyles Rock: Gargoyles play an important role in the setting as they're summoned by Dargor's power to trash the demonic army and send it back to hell.
• Our Trolls Are Different: Judging from the voices heard at the beginning of Trolls in the Dark they sound more like childish-like fayries.
• Rape as Drama: Airin is implied to be raped to death by Akron or/and his minions.
• Religion of Evil: The Black Order, and other worshippers of Kron.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Warrior of Ice isn't exactly happy for all the pain and death Akron has inflicted on him and his friends. "The Mighty Ride of the Firelord" is a good example.
• Rock Me, Amadeus: The Wizard's Last Rhymes is based largely on Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9.
• Rock Opera: Two of them, called "The Emerald Sword Saga" and "The Dark Secret Saga".
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Queen of the Dark Horizons was sealed by the angels inside the crypts of the Ghostlands.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: The Emerald Sword.
• Taking You with Me: How the hero defeats Akron in the Emerald Sword Saga.
• The Hero Dies: In the Emerald Sword Saga. Khaas too while recovering Thanor's eyes.
• Together in Death: Princess Airin and Arwald.
• The Unpronounceable: The Queen of the Dark Horizons is described as this, though it's more like "if you say her name then bad things will happen" rather than her name being literally impossible to pronounce.
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: Plenty of them, including Queen of the Dark Horizons and Reign of Terror.
• Winged Unicorn: "The Last Winged Unicorn"
• Worthy Opponent: FACE ME EVIL BASTARD!
• Zombie Apocalypse: The Queen of the Dark Horizons unleash one against the good guys. In The Mystic Prophecy of the Demon Knight, a horde of ghouls emerge from Dar Kunor's soil to attack our heroes.