siLLy puPPy On the second album by LUCA TURILLI, which is a band effort despite the band being named after the songwriter, keyboardist and neo-classical guitar shredder of the same name, we get part two of the trilogy where darkness and the magic colors of the universe don't identify with the expression of evil but are simply wonderful and romantic manifestations of the beloved Earth. On PROPHET OF THE LAST ECLIPSE we still land in the lands of operatic fantastical cheesy power metal replete with musical acrobatics but instead of Nordic lands we get a story about the world of Zaephyr and its destruction. TURILLI pulls his best Ayreon inspired lyrics on this one and we hear his fascination with sci-fi films. This in particular is influenced by Event Horizon, the 1997 British / American film.

Although the storyline and lyrics are an acquired taste I have to declare that in the musical department this album is a bit better than the debut. The complaint I had of that album were that the songs seemed to sound very much like slight variations of another and that is eliminated on this second affair. There has been a lot more attention paid to the attention span of the listener. The tracks are more varied and more influences are abound including the usual TURILLI suspects such as classical, folk and the like which are not too overly far from those of his Rhapsody (Of Fire) projects. The power metal feel on here is still dominant but the pacing is much more intelligently laid out and I am quite taken by how the album flows from one track to another. There are plenty of operatic choirs, Gregorian chants, folk intros and of course TURILLI's virtuosic wankitude that ratchets its way up to 11. The songwriting has improved a lot and little creative touches make this a much more enjoyable album for me personally. This is a operatic symphonic power metal that adds some interesting twists and turns and guaranteed to please all the progressive power metalheads out there.