King of the Nordic...robots?
Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 03/24/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Prophet of the Last Eclipse was the second solo album from Rhapsody (of Fire) guitarist/songwriter/DungeonMaster Luca Turilli. I never really understood why these solo Luca albums were necessary, given the fact that they were nearly identical to what he was doing with Rhapsody, but the result was twice as much power metal, so I didn't complain. Besides, I enjoy the first solo Luca album (King of the Nordic Twilight) as much (if not more than) any Rhapsody album, thanks in large part to vocalist Olaf Hayer, who really nails this kind of epic dramatic stuff.
With Prophet of the Last Eclipse, Luca stretches his talents and imagination to come up with an album about, um, robots I guess. Honestly I don't see a lot of differences between this supposedly sci-fi epic and Luca's previous fantasy epic. They sound exactly the same to me. You could probably switch tracks from both albums without noticing any difference. I suppose that's not a bad thing if you really like Luca's brand of Italian power metal, but at some point that kind of thing grows old, and this is the album where that happened for me (Symphony of Enchanted Lands, Vol. 2: The Dark Secret sealed the deal). This is the same kind of grandiose epic symphonic power metal Luca has always delivered, but it just isn't enough to hold my interest any more.
If you're a major Luca Turilli/Rhapsody of Fire fan, you probably won't care how repetitive this album is, and will no doubt enjoy it a great deal. If you're looking for even miniscule signs of growth or progression, you're not going to find it here.
NOTE: The Deluxe Edition of Prophet of the Last Eclipse comes in a nice digipack inside a slipcase, and features a pair of bonus tracks - Dark Comet's Reign and an alternate version of Demonheart with former Angra/Shaman frontman Andre Matos on vocals. If you're a big fan of Luca/Rhapsody, this is definitely the version to get.
"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1