“Have you lost your mind, Luca?!,” I said. “This isn’t power metal, this is madness!”
Luca Turilli was silent for a moment, his eyes aflame with a passion that bordered on insanity. “Calm yourself, Janosz, my old friend. You’ve been by my side for years. You’ve walked this path with me from the beginning, and tonight we will finally witness my greatest achievement!”
“But what is this achievement, Luca? What is it you hope to accomplish?”
“I mean to do nothing less than to record an album of music that transcends past, present and future becoming the soundtrack of heart and soul beyond the illusion of time! But now isn’t the time for idle banter. The hour grows late and the planets will soon be in alignment with the Alpha Centauri nebula. I must make haste! I’ll see you on the other side my old friend.” With that, Luca Turilli slung his blue custom Luca Turilli Neoclassical Revelation electric guitar across his back, executed a flawless about-face, and strutted into the recording studio’s live room.
It’s true that I’m one of Luca Turilli’s oldest friends. We met as young boys in primary school, and I witnessed his rise to heavy metal glory in the 1990’s as a key member of the power metal band Rhapsody. As a member of Rhapsody, Luca Turilli, along with keyboardist Alex Staropoli and vocalist Fabio Lione helped push power metal to heights of epicness that were undreamt of at the time. The band’s early work, especially Legendary Tales, Symphony of Enchanted Lands, and Dawn of Victory are some of the best achievements in power metals illustrious history.
But, in the early 2010s, after a series of increasingly formulaic albums, a forced name change to Rhapsody of Fire, and legal troubles with their label, Magic Circle Records, Luca announced that he was parting ways with his companions amicably. He immediately formed his own version of Rhapsody called Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody and began writing new music. This split only served to damage the creativity of both bands, however. Without the vision and guitar prowess of Luca, Rhapsody of Fire lost its creative focus and released their worst album of the band’s career in Dark Wings of Steel.
Luca, who’d concluded his ongoing fantasy saga of The Ice Warrior and Dargor, The Shadowlord when he was still a member of Rhapsody of Fire, became obsessed with mysticism and unlocking the secrets of the universe. He set about reading as many esoteric tomes and arcana as he could obtain and began to believe he could open doors to other dimensions with certain melodies and sound combinations. Left to his own devices and untethered from the constraints of being a member of a band, Luca recorded his first attempt at synthesizing music with arcane magic. The result, 2012’s Ascending to Infinity, was an insane mixture of styles that included neoclassical guitar, electronica, and orchestral bombast. Whatever he was hoping to accomplish, he failed. So back to the drawing board he went, and tonight he seems to think we will witness the culmination of all his labors.
Back in the live room it appears that Luca is finishing up some chalk markings on the studio floor. He’s drawn a large circle that surrounds every musician who’s participating in tonight’s recording session. Inside the circle is scrawled all manner of shapes and angles based on non-Euclidian geometry. I fear that if I were to gaze upon the work as a whole I may go mad. Luca walks to the intercom and instructs the engineer at the studio monitor to open the moon door. At the push of a button the ceiling of the studio slides back to reveal the night sky. I gaze up at the stars for a moment before a feeling of primal dread grips me and I have to avert my eyes. In my mind I know the terror I feel is unfounded but something about staring into that endless black void causes a mild urge to run from the studio and never look back.
Through the studio’s window I can see Luca plug his guitar in and step onto the podium in front of the musicians he’s gathered. He says, “Tonight we travel beyond the limits of imagination to a realm of pure spirit and energy! Prepare yourselves, friends, for a journey into the heart of reality!” With that Luca brings his pick down across the strings of his guitar and the performance begins.
It’s immediately apparent that Luca was more focused while composing these songs, but it still sounds like the work of a madman. The power metal vocals of Trick or Treat’s Alessandro Conti clash with female operatic vocals and liturgical chanting. Futuristic synthesizers make an appearance alongside neoclassical guitar shredding. And the arpeggios…my God…the arpeggios! Large portions of music don’t even resemble heavy metal anymore. All those nights Luca spent locked away in his room composing, and this is the result? Has my old friend gone mad or is he a genius of such stature that mere mortals can’t comprehend the music he’s written?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9I4rA1p5Y4[/youtube]
The night wears on and the assemblage of musicians continues to play as if their very souls depended on it. I begin to wonder how much longer these performers can maintain this energy level and as my mind drifts I detect a change in the room. It’s nearly imperceptible at first; the hairs on my neck begin to stand and I notice a faint smell of ozone in the air. Suddenly, tendrils of what appear to be electricity begin dancing across the floor, tracing the lines Luca had drawn earlier. I can’t believe my eyes. I look to the engineer manning the sound board to see his reaction but he’s too busy frantically turning knobs and sliding sliders to notice what’s happening. Inside the live room Luca is playing his guitar like a man possessed. The orchestra and choir seem to be totally enraptured by him. They aren’t even looking at the sheet music anymore. Their gazes are fixed on Luca Turilli. Their eyes don’t blink and their fingers manipulate their instruments with a nearly supernatural precision and dexterity.
The intensity of the music begins to rise and as it builds to a crescendo, the bolts of electricity that were heretofore confined to the mystical scrawling on the floor begin to leap skyward and trace an outline across the heavens. The outline appears to be a tear in the very fabric of space and it’s beginning to widen. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. My mind is screaming at me to flee but I can’t move. The music has me in its thrall. I’m to bear witness to what happens tonight whether I want to or not.
“Luca stop! Please! You’ll destroy us all,” I scream, but it’s no use. The music has drowned everything else out. And that tear in the sky…my God! It’s getting wider by the second and I swear I can see something beyond the rift now. I don’t know how but I know I’m looking into another world. It’s a world of light brighter than the sun, but it doesn’t hurt to look into. In the light I swear I can see great winged beings doing battle with each other. I know instinctively that this is a clash between the primal forces of good and evil. I can feel tears streaming down my face now. I’m in awe of what I’m seeing but my mind is also screaming with abject horror.
The rift has grown so wide that it seems to have overtaken the sky in my world. The winged celestial beings continue to slaughter each other and I’m terrified to find out what will happen when one side conquers the other. I can’t see anything else anymore. I can’t feel anything either. My world is only light and a blistering keyboard solo now. The music intensifies. The light intensifies. I become aware that I’m screaming. The light has grown so intense that it’s burning away my body. Now I’m laughing. My God, I can hear everything! I exist everywhere and at all times!
Suddenly I’m back standing in the recording studio. The musicians in the live room are packing up their instruments. I cast my eyes skyward and am greeted by the first light of morning. Luca strolls through the doorway into the studio. “I trust you enjoyed my masterpiece, Janosz,” he says with an impish smirk on his face.
“Jesus, Luca, what have you done?”
“Why, I’ve finished recording my new album, old friend. Come now; let us away to the post office. I have to get this album to Nuclear Blast Records post haste so I can start on my next project. This was merely a taste of what’s to come!"
