Artist: Rhapsody
   Title: Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret (Vinyl Edition)
   Label: SPV / Steamhammer  

In 1997 a new band set about turning the world of Metal on its head with their debut album 'Legendary Tales'.  That band was the Italian metallers Rhapsody, who combined the elements of epic metal with classical music and delved into the fantasy world of dungeons and dragons to create a new genre, Hollywood Metal.

The band followed their debut with four more outstanding albums, but it wasn’t until their ground breaking album 'The Dark Secret', which featured a narrative part by none other than Sir Christopher Lee as the Wizard King and the band once again were creating the new genre Film Score Metal. 

This album was followed by the phenomenal ‘Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II -The Dark Secret', where Alex Staropoli took his dream to even greater heights than the original 'The Dark Secret'. The band again sought out Lee for as the narrative and wise Wizard King, and once again he brought an atmosphere to the album like only he could.  But it was the tracks like the opener ‘The Dark Secret’ and the intense power-metal of ‘Unholy Warcry’ that sent raptures around both fans of the band and new comers alike.   This album also brought in other newer elements to weave into the mix, elements such as Folk and Celtic music were added into 'Elgard’s Green Valleys’, to add to the mysticism that the album produced overall and helped not only make this album about the music, but also about the story the music was trying tell.

And now SPV have make this classic album available on vinyl which adds even more the original.  There's definitely something about the sound on vinyl that brings out the best in this album. If you like me have the CD version as well then play them back to back and you can almost here the heartbeat of the album in the vinyl version, something that seems to be missing in the high tech CD, plus there is also a bonus track ‘Lo Speecchio D’Argento’, which is a must listen to if you enjoyed the Celtic and Folkish elements of the original album.

This is a must for fans of the band who want something special for their collection and also if you like me, love to dig out your old vinyl once in a while and give them a spin.  Because they are like old friends you haven’t seen in ages and bring a warmth to your listening pleasure.  The vinyl covers also make much better wall art in frames than those CD booklets ever did ... and you can actually see all the detail on the cover properly too!

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