''Triumph or Agony'' is the seventh studio album by Italian

symphonic power metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band

Rhapsody of Fire Rhapsody of Fire (formerly known as Rhapsody) is an Italian symphonic power metal band formed by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli, widely seen as a pioneer of the symphonic power metal subgenre. Since forming in 1993 as Thundercross, the band h ...

, released in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

on 25 September 2006. It is the first album that the band released after their name change. ''Triumph or Agony'' features a live 70 piece orchestra and choir and was again self-produced by guitarist/songwriter

Luca Turilli Luca Turilli (born 5 March 1972) is an Italian composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist constantly engaged in various musical projects. Having always declared to love music at 360 degrees, Turilli has dedicated himself to multip ...

and keyboardist/songwriter

Alex Staropoli Alessandro "Alex" Staropoli (born 9 January 1970) is a keyboard player, composer, leader and co-founder (with Luca Turilli) of the Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire. He does the orchestral arrangements in all the band's songs. Fo ...

with assistance from co-producer

Sascha Paeth Sascha Paeth (born 9 September 1970 in Wolfsburg, West Germany) is a German guitarist, bassist, musical producer, and mixer known for working with heavy metal bands such as Avantasia, Edguy, Angra, Shaaman, Rhapsody of Fire, Kamelot, After For ...

. The album also features an array of guest narrators and character actors, including several recruits from the London theatre scene,

Susannah York Susannah Yolande Fletcher (9 January 1939 – 15 January 2011), known professionally as Susannah York, was an English actress. Her appearances in various films of the 1960s, including '' Tom Jones'' (1963) and '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' ...

of the ''Superman'' film series and a return appearance by

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

, as the all-knowing ‘Wizard King’. The song "Il Canto del Vento", is the first song in the band's history that is not composed by Turilli or Staropoli, instead it was composed by

Fabio Lione Fabio Tordiglione (born 9 October 1973), known professionally as Fabio Lione, is an Italian singer and lyricist who has worked with many bands in the metal genre. He was known for being the singer of Italian power metal band Rhapsody of Fire fo ...

. The cover art is done by artist

Jeff Easley Jeff Easley (born 1954) is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines, as well as non-fantasy commercial art. Early life Easley was born in Nicholasville, Kentucky in 1954. He spent time drawing as ...

, famous for his work on the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' line of products.

Track listing

Personnel

Rhapsody of Fire *

– lead vocals *

– guitars, production *

– keyboards, orchestral arrangements, production *

Patrice Guers Patrice Guers (born 5 September 1969 in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France) is the former bassist of the Italian symphonic metal band Rhapsody of Fire. He joined the band after Alessandro Lotta left the band and performed with them until 2011, when he de ...

– bass * Alex Holzwarth – drums Additional personnel * Manuel Staropoli – flute, recorder *

– narration * Toby Eddington – narration * Stash Kirkbride – narration * Christina Lee – narration * Marcus D'Amico – narration * Simon Fielding – narration * Susannah York – narration * Dominique Leurquin – guitar solos (2, 5, 7, 8) * Johannes Monno – guitars (classical) * Bridget Fogle – soprano vocals Choir * Cinzia Rizzo, Miro Rodenberg, Olaf Hayer, Previn Moore, Robert Hunecke-Rizzo, Thomas Rettke Brno Academy Choir * Dana Kurečková, Iva Holubová, Jana Klinerová, Jaroslava Zezulová, Kateřina Hudcová, Lucie Matalová, Ludmila Kieseljovová, Ludmila Markesová, Vladimíra Dolejšová, Jiří Klecker, Karel Seffer, Libor Markes, Michael Pinsker, Milan Hanzliczek, Pavel Konárek, Robert Kurečka, Serhij Derda, Tomáš Ibrmajer, Vladimír Kutnohorský, Alena Sobolová, Andrea Dáňová, Barbora Francová, Dana Toncrová, Eva Badalová, Eva Klepalová, Kateřina Nejedlá, Kateřina Pastrňáková, Magda Krejčová, Marie Vališová, Petra Bodová, Petra Koňárková, Terezie Kamenická, Terezie Plevová, Zora Jaborníková, Ivan Nepivoda, Jakub Herzan, Jiří Barták, Marek Mikuš, Matěj Dupal, Tomáš Kamenický, Vladimír Prachař, Vít Matuška Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra * Emil Nosek – violin * František Hrubý – violin * Hana Roušarová – violin * Hana Tesařová – violin * Jan Nedoma – violin * Jana Štípková – violin * Jitka Hanáková – violin * Milan Lapka – violin * Miroslav Křivánek – violin * Přemysl Roušar – violin * Dana Blahutová – violin * Hana Bílková – violin * Jan Kotulan – violin * Jaroslav Aladzas – violin * Jitka Šuranská – violin * Josef Geryk – violin * Josef Kubelka – violin * Josef Vyžrálek – violin * Leo Sláma – violin * Yvona Fialová – violin * Dana Božková – viola * Juraj Petrovič – viola * Lucie Dümlerová – viola * Michaela Slámová – viola * Miroslav Kašný – viola * Oldřich Šebestík – viola * Pavel Novák – viola * Roman Janů – viola * Alexandr Erml – celli * David Kefer – celli * Erich Hulín – celli * Hana Škarpová – celli * Zdenka Aladzasová – celli * Zuzana Ermlová – celli * Josef Horák – double bass * Michal Pášma – double bass * Pavel Juřík – double bass * Vladimír Hudeček – double bass * Vítězslav Pelikán – double bass * Jana Holásková – flute * Jiřina Vodičková – flute * Vladimír Vodička – flute * Krista Hallová – oboe * Svatopluk Holásek – oboe * Aleš Pavlorek – clarinet * Jiří Kundl – clarinet * Jaroslav Janoštík – bassoon * Václav Kaniok – bassoon * František Vyskočil – French horn * Jiří Zatloukal – French horn * Josef Číhal – French horn * Milan Kubát – French horn * Rudolf Linner – French horn * Vlastimil Kelar – French horn * Pavel Skopal – trumpet * Rostislav Killar – trumpet * Zdeněk Macek – trumpet * Ivan Dřínovský – trombone * Milan Tesař – trombone * Roman Sklenář – trombone * Miloslav Žváček – tuba * Lucie Vápová – harp Production *

– cover art *

Petr Pololanik Petr is a Czech given name for males and a Czech surname. Petr is the Czech form of ''Peter''. For information on Petr as a first name, see Peter (given name). Given name * Petr Aven (born 1955), Russian billionaire banker, economist and poli ...

– orchestra conductor * Marek Obdržálek – choir conductor * Sascha Paeth – production, engineering, mixing * Joey DeMaio – executive producer * Rob LaVaque – editing, engineering * Phillip Colodetti – editing, engineering * Bernd Kugler – orchestra and choir recording * Marc Lenz – orchestra and choir recording * Jan Wrede – orchestra and choir recording * Stefan Schmidt – orchestra and choir recording * Olaf Reitmeier – engineering

Charts

References

External links

''Triumph or Agony'' Album Review
{{Authority control 2006 albums Rhapsody of Fire albums