They've been mentioned on here a few times now but this is the first album I've put up by Rhapsody of Fire. Now before they were called Rhapsody of Fire, they were just called Rhapsody but for legal reasons they had to change their name. Before the emergence of Rhapsody of Fire, the Italian metal scene had hardly seen any recognized metal artists and early 1980s metal band Vanadium were about as good as it got. Rhapsody of Fire from the word go were determined to put out their own style of power metal. The early stuff was heavily laden with a medieval folklore sound with a heavy Italian slant and feel, and at times they sounded almost like a power metal movie soundtrack band. The first album found them finding their feet, but its on their second album
Symphony of Enchanted Lands that they laid their credentials down as a European metal outfit to watch. The album at times reminds me of a much lighter
Nightfall in Middle Earth due to its epic feel and spoken parts, which also came out in 1998.
Rhapsody of Fire Symphony of Enchanted Lands 1998
