This current Rhapsody of Fire line-up does indeed have a new album coming. As a fan of the last three albums (including the two with the current vocalist), I'm honestly looking forward to it. They're doing perfectly fine without Luca Turilli and Fabio Lione, imo... as much as I love both those guys (I even saw Luca Turilli's Rhapsody once and shook Luca's hand - nice guy). I understand some fans feel differently and that's fine. Anyway...

Skyrim-looking cover art (glad it's not AI and it does look nice!):


Tracklisting:
1. Challenge the Wind
2. Whispers of Doom
3. The Bloody Pariah
4. Vanquished by Shadows
5. Kreel’s Magic Staff
6. Diamond Claws
7. Black Wizard
8. A Brave New Hope
9. Holy Downfall
10. Mastered by the Dark

Singles:



I definitely like these songs but the mixing is a bit weird.

Cover looks good, and the singles aren't that bad. Their first three albums have become some of my all-time favorites for symphonic power metal, so I'll be interested to see if they can improve from Glory for Salvation, which I thought was sort of mid.

Yeah, these songs sound energetic and well done. Very refreshing, it has been a slow year so far.

This sounds pretty freaking good so far, the only real flaw is that Alex's keyboards are mixed a tad too loud and the rhythm guitars are a little quiet, but the songwriting is on point. I've generally preferred Rhapsody Of Fire's side of the battle since Into The Legend, as Luca Turilli's songwriting started getting a little too experimental for my liking after Ascending To Infinity. I always saw Fabio Lione as being the true voice of the band, but Giacomo has been doing a solid job in his stead. This sounds about on par for the past 3 albums to me, which were all excellent. Staropoli wins, flawless victory.

I may have to agree with you. I liked the two Luca Turilli's Rhapsody albums and the Turilli / Lione Rhapsody album was pretty good too, but these last three RoF albums are just better imo. More consistent and focused, less bloated. Staropoli is indeed the winner in the Battle of the Rhapsodies, lol. I didn't feel that way when "Dark Wings of Steel" dropped though, that album was very disappointing for me... but then they came back very strong with "Into the Legend" and have kept up the quality since.

Love old Rhapsody, but after all the splits and reunions I haven't really made it a priority to keep up with their new stuff. The stuff I have heard has been fine, but hasn't had much staying power. Really cool that they went with some decent artwork instead of crappy AI vomit, god knows a lot of their newer artwork might as well have been AI for the originality it showed.

Since the split I haven't really been too keen on what either has put out. Turilli went too orchestral/film score for my tastes, and while RoF has put out some decent albums, they've been nowhere as good as the older stuff. It's a shame because I thought From Chaos to Eternity was one of the best albums they'd ever done and that they'd embark on a new amazing multi album epic following its conclusion

If they ever reunite though, it probably wouldn't even be as RoF, but something like Starpoli/Turilli Rhapsody feat Fabio Lione of Fire!

Edit: Just to echo everyone else, that artwork is great, given the title I wonder if it's inspired by Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle books?

Other than Luca Turilli's 3rd solo album "The Infinite Wonders Of Creation", I don't think that Turilli has been tied to anything that could be categorized as weak per say, but both "Prometheus (Symphonia Ignis Divinus)" and "Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution)" got a little convoluted at times, sounding more like a mishmash of Turilli's past solo albums and some of Kamelot's mid-2000s material. On the other hand, I though "Ascending To Infinity" was an absolute masterpiece and would have been entirely in the pro-Turilli camp had he stuck with that approach. "Dark Wings Of Steel" was pretty middling, Starapoli had always been a massive Manowar fan and I think he tried a little too hard to copy what they did on "Gods Of War" and it just felt uninspired even with Fabio's massive vocals in tow.



For me the Limb Music material will always be the pinnacle of Rhapsody's career, but I stuck with them through their subsequent middle era with Joey DeMaio handling promotion and the subsequent stuff after Turilli and Starapoli split and it's been mostly solid. And one thing I will always defend all of the various Rhapsody camps on is their art work, even when they made the switch over from old school paintings to full on digital art in the early 2010s, they always had great visual masters handling their album art.

Another new one.

Pretty nice (as is "A Brave New Hope" btw).