It begins too bland, and through all of it, there doesn't seem to be any deviance from their usual style. That's not necessarily bad, but it doesn't hype me personally.

Written by Irritable Ted on 24.11.2013 at 22:16

The songs and chorus' come through rather than just endless wanking. The guitars take a back seat compared to the song structure.

THIS. EXACTLY THIS.

You put it perfectly. There are a lot of RoF fans though (especially here) that will dislike it for that reason and think it is "bland" or "uninspired." The irony of this, however, is that so many people ask for older RoF, and to be honest, this album is much closer to older RoF. It really wasn't up until The Frozen Tears of Angels and From Chaos or Eternity that the technical wankery really stepped up to an all-time high, where for the first time the symphonics and epicness were taking a backseat to the guitars. When I listen to this album, the style of it reminds me a bit more of Rhapsody's first three albums. I'm saying stylistically here - I'm not saying that I think the the songwriting itself is or isn't as good.

With that said, I do think despite this album's efforts to have the choruses stick out more from the music, it ironically lacks super strong choruses... with a few exceptions. I'll have to keep listening to it and letting it grow on me, but for now I'd probably give it a 7/10.

Best tracks: Rising From Tragic Flames, Angel of Light, Silver Lake of Tears, Custode Fi Pace
Worst tracks: Tears of Pain, Dark Wings of Steel

Written by Irritable Ted on 25.11.2013 at 09:26

Written by SoUnDs LiKe PoP on 24.11.2013 at 22:38

Written by Irritable Ted on 24.11.2013 at 22:16

The songs and chorus' come through rather than just endless wanking. The guitars take a back seat compared to the song structure.

The irony of this, however, is that so many people ask for older RoF, and to be honest, this album is much closer to older RoF. It really wasn't up until The Frozen Tears of Angels and From Chaos or Eternity that the technical wankery really stepped up to an all-time high, where for the first time the symphonics and epicness were taking a backseat to the guitars. When I listen to this album, the style of it reminds me a bit more of Rhapsody's first three albums. I'm saying stylistically here - I'm not saying that I think the the songwriting itself is or isn't as good.

My favourite RoF album is probably Dawn Of Victory. This feels and sounds quite like that, or even some of the shorter tracks from SOEL.

You can make a track as technical and complex as possible, showing great skill of your instrument, but if their is no song in there it is pointless.

Yeah, in fact, the intro to Rising From Tragic Flames sounds very similar to the intro of Dawn of Victory. And yeah, while I enjoy all RoF albums, From Chaos To Eternity was beginning to get too heavy on the wankery side for me. I'm kind of glad they took a step back from that. I do think, however, that there is a lot of room for improvement on this album in the songwriting category. Hopefully they can improve on their next release.