By Carl Begai
BraveWords has been watching guitarist Luca Turilli’s career since the release of Rhapsody’s 1997 debut, Legendary Tales… back when we were BW&BK and in print only. In the time since then we’ve covered the band’s album-by-album rise to fame, their unexpected triumphant stand in Montreal supporting Manowar (and subsequent trouncing of the headliner), the court case against former management (led by Manowar’s Joey Demaio) which forced the band to change their name to Rhapsody Of Fire, and Turilli’s confusing but amicable split to form Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody. Over those 18 years, Turilli’s passion for his art hasn’t waned one iota. In fact, his present enthusiasm is downright dangerous given his vastly increased command of the English language since those early days. It kinda makes you wish you could bottle and use it as a Monday morning motivational chaser.
Bottom line is that even if you don’t care for the in-your-face happy metal soundtrack bombast of Turilli’s music, it’s very hard not to like the guy.
Turilli is currently pounding the pavement in support of his new album, Prometheus – Symphonia Ignis Divinus. Fans won’t be disappointed, as it features all the epic metal bells and whistles that made him and former partner Alex Staropoli – still with Rhapsody Of Fire – famous. This record just happens to be the biggest, most complex Rhapsody-related outing yet. A far cry from the comparative Super Mario soundtracking of Legendary Tales.
“We were influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen, the Keeper Of The Seven Keys albums from Helloween, and I was really inspired by the original soundtrack for the Batman movie directed by Tim Burton, composed by Danny Elfman,” says Turilli, laying the Rhapsody groundwork. “We weren’t so pretentious to think that we could create something brand new, but we wanted to create something out of our influences. We proposed something new with Legendary Tales, and it was the record company that decided to call it Hollywood metal. If you can imagine we were putting the classic orchestral elements into our compositions note by note using a keyboard and a sequencer. At the time, those orchestral samples we used were considered the best around.” Continue reading BraveWords Interview: LUCA TURILLI’s RHAPSODY – The Return Of Mr. Bombastic