LINE-UP:
Luca Turilli - guitars
Alex Staropoli - keyboards
Fabio Lione - vocals
Alessandro Lotta - bass
Alex Holzwarth - drums
TRACKLIST:
Lux Triumphans
Dawn Of Victory
Triumph For My Magic Steel
The Village Of Dwarves
Dargor, Shadowlord Of The Black Mountain
The Bloody Rage Of The Titans
Holy Thunderforce
Trolls In The Dark
The Last Winged Unicorn
The Mighty Ride Of The Firelord
REVIEW:
The third part of the "Emerald Saga" is as good as the other two. A slightly different album in the sense that this one concentrates more on the heavy, guitar-oriented sound, unlike its predecessor - "Symphony Of Enchanted Lands" - which were much more symphonic and classic-inspired. RHAPSODY masters both styles with equal passion and perfection. The first time I listened to the "Dawn Of Victory" album, I thought it was the weakest up to that point, but the more I listened to it, the more I loved it. This is definitely as good as their two previous albums, but it may require some extra time in order to be fully appreciated. "Dawn Of Victory", "Triumph For My Magic Steel" and "The Last Winged Unicorn" are examples of songs that emplifies the type of music weīve all come to associate with RHAPSODY. The production is once again handled by now familiar Sascha Paeth and Miro, and they do a great job as usual.
RATE out of 10: ********** (10)
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The promoversion of the CD. It comes in a special foldout (gatefold) cardboard sleeve. The cover design is identical to the commercial release with the exception of the logo and placing of the title. "Dawn Of Victory" is printed in the lower right-hand corner. The back is quite different. At first sight it might look the same, but a closer look reveals that the photo of the band is to the top left instead of at center, all the production and songwriting credits is positioned to the immidiate right of the photo, and not underneath it as is the case with the commercial issue. The text "Not for sale - For promotional use only" is placed in a yellow stripe in the upper right corner. Also, the whole background is different than the regular issue. When you open up the gatefold cardboard sleeve you will find pictures of all bandmembers + Aresius. To the left is a special pocket to hold the 8-page booklet. It features biography in German and English and is is in black and white (except for the front and backcover). To the right in the gatefold there is another pocket made to hold the CD itself. |
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Another promo edition. This is the South-Korean one. Front cover and booklet are identical to the European release, so I have not included scans of them. The back is also basically the same, but with red sticker in the upper right corner saying: "Not for sale - Seoul Records". The CD itself is also a little different, with a bigger picture of the warrior. On other editions there is a close-up of the warrior and you donīt see much else, but here you can see some background also. More like the cover of the record. Also included is a 4-page folder written in Korean (see middle-scan above). |
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The Japanese version of "Dawn Of Victory" has the same tracks as the other editions. No extratracks which often is the case when it comes to Japan editions. The inlay is also identical to the standard European edition. It does however have an "obi" (the paperband on the left on the cover) and an extra 12-page booklet in Japanese. This booklet is in black and white. |
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| The three (3) pictures above shows the combined release of "Dawn Of Victory" and "Rain Of A Thousand Flames - vol. 2". Only the final four tracks from "Rain Of A Thousand Flames" is present. Vol. 1. of that record (first three tracks) are present on the "Symphony Of Enchanted Lands"-release. Iīm not sure what this release is though. Itīs too professional-looking to be a bootleg with itīs full colour booklet and picture CD. On the other hand, no real record label is stated (only something called the "AGAT Company") and no matrix / record number is printed anywhere. Some sources state that this is the ofiicial Russian release, but I honestly donīt know. Probably some semi-official release. It looks great though and is well worth tracking down. | ||
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Another limited box-set variation from the standard release. This 2-CD set is not as spectacular as the "Symphony Of Enchanted Lands"-box, but well worth checking out. Comes in a hard protectice case and includes a great full colour hardcover book. Please see scan of the sticker to the left for full description of content. |
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Room for picture of the back of the disc. | Here we have the 12" LP vinyl picture disc version of the CD. Released in limited quantity (4 000 copies) and comes with a full colour poster of the complete cover motive. Comes in a black die-cut cover and sealed in plastic (shrinkwrap). |
