Luca Turilli - Kings of the Nordic Twilight

1999 has been one of the best years of metal and the release of Luca Turilli's first album comes as no surprise as being one of the finest. Its difficult to grasp the words to describe this piece of work effectively and retain all the metallic beauty contained within. Some have passed this album off as being a Rhapsody copy, and yes it does sound *similiar* to Rhapsody slightly is more vocal driven and it should be. Enhancing the gorgeous sound of this release are tons of violin, viola, flute, cembalo, piano and the talents of a northern German opera choir. Not to mention the core of the band itself, the virtuoso guitarist and songwriting genius, Luca Turilli, who gives the album the sound of guitar, and Olaf Hayer, who gives the album a voice. Luca is no doubt the main talent here at work, if the songs themselves aren't enough to stand on, there's always his axeslinging which is just impeccable. Its multifaceted showing various sides throughout the release. Fierce and biting like the cold wind on a nordic night, or sensitive and passionate, rich in tone with a striking emotional edge conveying so much in just a few spraying notes. Olaf Hayer has a brittle sound to his voice, its high pitched but extremely clear, soaring as high as the dragons themselves. Olaf reminds me of such favourite vocalists as Rhapsody singer Fabio Lione, and Timo Kotipelto from Stratovarius, with that higher vocal tone, but able to express so much with it. Also enlisted to add depth to the music is the fabulous Icelandic opera diva Rannveig Sif Sigurardottir, who's homeland coincidentally only adds to the frozen themes of the album. Her impressively breathtaking performance on "Black Dragon" and the ballad where she flexes her vocal skills in the solo spotlight, "Princess Aurora", give "Kings of the Nordic Twilight" a third dimension that few albums have. Other musicians on the album include Robert Hunecke-Rizzo on drums and Sascha Paeth on bass and acoustic guitars, both members from Heavens Gate, a keyboardist simply named Miro. Sascha and Miro also produced the album, and did a smashing job of it, it must have been quite an undertaking with so many layers of instruments on the album.

Everything Luca Turilli has played on lately has included a massive background story that the listener must dive into to truly appreciate and grasp all of the tiny nuances in the music and to totally comprehend the complexities and musical shifts that are going on here. To understand all of this, it is essential to know that "Kings of the Nordic Twilight" is the first in what has been called a "Virtual Odyssey" Trilogy, which in the end will be three CDs, each having a different place of great extremes in both time and space (and perhaps climatic feels?). But these will all turn out in the end to have one thing in common. A universal love that is so strong it will overcome all frontiers and take on an endless battle against the might of cosmic obscurity. (the proceeding was heavily borrowed from his homepage. How could I know this without reading it somewhere?) But on with the story for this particular disk. So created for our enjoyment is the fictional northern land Kalgor, which is ruled by the tyrant Saroth. Saroth's son, Atriel is born into this land of Kalgor which has been torn by "oppression, terror, and bondage". So naturally Atriel turns away from his father's cruelty and thus is forced to flee the land as a result. This is the tale the music is illustrating throughout the disk.

So that which is left, is the gorgeous diverse beauty found upon this release. Luca Turilli can call it "Classical music for the new millenium" all he likes, it still remains to be 'symphonic orchestrated progressive operatic power metal', no matter which way you look at it. Perhaps Turilli's description is better. The music does fuse progressive power metal with a very icy symphonic orchestrated feel. Another words its classical meets metal at the crossroads, taking the elegance of classical and the harsh barbaric passion of power metal and slithers in some progressive touches. But I can say this, the music here is much more epic, awe inspiring and emotionally moving than any classical music in the modern day. It goes above and beyond what was expected and ends up pulling the listener right into the music and story of the nordic land.

The feeling expressed on this album is more than even was achieved with the last Rhapsody release. It takes that basic formula and shoves it over the edge to create something even more classical sounding. Several of the songs perfectly convey the atmosphere of this nordic land, with icy crystal sounds and that winter's chill is frozen into the many of the tunes, which makes it such a joy to listen to. Not only do the lyrics tell the story, but these added touches give the dramatic epic tale a soundtrack to flow along with it.

1.] To Magic Horizons - If your heart hasn't stopped before this has faded away than there is something wrong with you. This is as epic as it gets, full orchestra, military drums and the choir to blast along with it. Its over the top total symphonic feel is very similiar to the Rhapsody openers such as "Ira Tenax" and flows right into the next track...

2.] Black Dragon - Which is very much like Rhapsody's single from their last outing "Emerald Sword" which was a cut number two that flowed from the orchestrated piece that opened the album. And yes the song is very Rhapsody like, but if you love that one you will love this too right? It starts out surprisingly raw (drums working overtime, clean vocals, guitar riffing) but the chorus blasts right out with that supporting choir. Dips and dives in the supporting background add dramatic touches when needed. The violin duel right in the middle is totally awesome which lead into the opera diva giving her first solo performance. This song is just totally epic from start to finish, a vocal and instrumental treat. It lays out the foundation for everything to come in the disk and just packs it all into five minute song.

3.] Legend of Steel - tinkering opening with lots of delicate flute, happy and joyous sounding, flitting around in a beautiful melody, is quicky exchanged for an all out sound assault, guitar, violins, drums and finally vocals soaring over the top, quickly dancing over the verses, before the bombastic chorus begins. The way the guitar keeps taking showcase to flaunt the same ulta melodic riff reminds me a little of the way Running Wild does it on some of their more epic 'new' classics like "Lions of the Seas". Just the guitar mind you. Bubbly heart stopping instrumentation in the middle that builds to such a huge sound its nearly painful. The violin stops it all before adding viola to take this melody the guitar was riffing along to and cranks it right out.

4.] Lord of the Winter Snow - Has kind of an 'electronic' sound to open it and the roar of the frozen Nordic wind, that sends chills up the spine. Ive heard the melody to this song described as being "polka" and not being familiar with that style, I couldnt tell you. This song, more than any other on the album, has a fiercely frozen feel to it. Its due to that chunky frozen sound, like icicles shattering on the ground in a chilly rhythm. Uniquely catchy, its so different from the rest of the album that its like a breath of hot air chilling in the cold. Reminds me vaguely of a Labyrinth song.

5.] Princess Aurora - Most modern epic metal albums have the 'soft ballad' inserted into the middle of the album, being it the best spot to break up the usual frantic pacing, but having only three full songs prior to this one, with the previous tune being strikingly distinctive from the rest, makes "Princess Aurora" seem like a treat in a slightly different place than it normally is expected for a ballad type song to be found. The song itself can be summed up in one word...gorgeous. Serving not only as one of the lighter weight tunes on the album, but also is one of the most compact. Rannveig Sif Sigurardottir takes over the spotlight and sends this one up with such emotion and breathtaking vocal prowess, that there is no way you can not take notice. If the song was associated with a colour it would be silver, for the shadows falling on the icy snow, growing longer as the day passes on.

6.] The Ancient Forest of Elves - Similiar to Black Dragon and a legion of Rhapsody tunes in pacing and the basic overall sound of the song. Violin and guitar dual each other for the spotlight, among the lush full sound delivered in full force here. This song is really classic Rhapsody through and through so fans of the band will love this. Plus there is a pan flute solo, and everyone knows pan flute kicks ass, which is traded for blistering guitar, and then it moves from there to violin before going into another pounding speed metal verse.

7.] Throne Of Ice - The wide open mystical feel of this song can only be described as breathtaking, with the choir and the violin and quickly cascading keyboard runs. Lead female opera vocals blend beautifully with a booming choir which sounds mostly male, before fading back to what sounds to be a children's choir. These stunning differences in overall vocal sound, and the transition between the more delicate and bombastic sounds is gorgeous. Coming in at under 2 minutes long, it is a very short, but stunning little piece.

8.] Where Heroes Lies - Very much like Rhapsody with many various breaks featuring guitar, violin and keyboards intertwining in a very fast paced rhythm. Pompous bombastic sections give way to huge Rhapsody-ish choruses, and vocals sung in the same style as Fabio Lione. Solid song, but it can be summed up in one word: Rhapsody.

9.] Warrior's Pride - This ballad changes between soft mostly vocal/keyboard driven passages and bombasticbreaks. Its pacing and overall feel is that of a bard's tale. This is the "Forest of Unicorns" of "Kings of The Nordic Twilight". The full, lush sound is similiar to the other songs but without the quick pacing. All the giant fill-ins are here, and the choir is so huge that it nearly blots out the main vocals at times. A very epic, and grand ballad, flaunting a strong medieval flavour.

10.] Kings of the Nordic Twilight - Simply fantastic!! From the lulling opening of piano, female vocals humming and violin, which breaks out to male/female choirs dueling each other to the background of drums and guitar with violin sprinkled in for good measure, this is just simply awesome. The three minutes or so of the song reminds me alot of the opening track, and lays the groundwork for what is to come in this totally, yes, epic song. Coming in at almost twelve minutes there is plenty of time to flaunt virtuousity and wonderful medieval rhythms throughout. The bombastic stuff is changed into a slower pace with vocals added and steps up with each change, getting a little faster each time, until it reaches a point of screaming and musically controlled chaos. Another magically killer chorus has been fused into this song and isnt beaten just totally to death. Musicially there is alot going on here, with multiple time changes, and its all handled so smoothly that it fits together perfectly like pieces of a puzzle. Some spoken words were thrown in in an attempt to help illustrate the story further, (like Rhapsody...), but also (like Rhapsody...) its a tad annoying and should have been given the seperate track treatment (like Blind Guardian's "NIME"). The guitar solo is stirringly frantic and swaps with the violin, to the shrill sounds of pan flute, which gives life to the recurring music theme going on here. The ending is suitably operatic and ends this release on such a grand note that you will be scrambling to hear it all again.