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.

siLLy puPPy LUCA TURILLI is the mastermind songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist shredding machine responsible for the symphonic folk and power prog metal band Rhapsody (Of Fire) who has been churning out epic fantastical tales for a couple decades now. This so-called solo effort is in fact deemed a band effort despite the band being named after TURILLI himself. KING OF THE NORDIC TWILIGHT is also the first album of a trilogy that utilizes the typical power metal sword bearing call to battle to defeat the darkened forces that have fallen upon the land. In that regard this album is very similar to pretty much the majority of power metal albums out there but on the compositional side its a bit more sophisticated. On the vocal front Olaf Hayer delivers an excellent vocal performance more than capable of the operatic power and prowess TURILLI demands with his high energy compositions. The trilogy revolves around three worlds and on this debut it focuses on an odyssey in the ancient Nordic lands where, and this is a direct quote from the liner notes “darkness and the magic colors of the NORDIC TWILIGHT don't identify with the expression of evil but are simply wonderful and romantic manifestations of my beloved Earth.” Expect well crafted power metal cheese but tasty cheese at least :)

Despite sounding just a couple notches different than the Rhapsody projects, TURILLI focuses less on folk and narrations and more on a recognizable power metal structure. As we all know, power metal is the modern day metal version of opera and on this release we get plenty of dragon-slaying operatic vocals and classical inspired instrumental runs with the lightning fast arpeggios and shredding that TURILLI is quite amazingly good at. The music is quite the symphonic and orchestral behemoth with a whole bunch of musicians cranking out beautiful and energetic riffs and motifs that pretty much sound consistent for the album's entirety. As well as everything is played on this album it seems to lack enough diversity in sound to keep me super-interested in it. While i'm admiring the instrumental and vocal acrobatics i'm underwhelmed by the monotonous tempos and musical feel. An excellently performed album but it just seems it lacks the inspiration and proper placement of direction to truly stand out as one of the best albums that TURILLI has mustered up. Hardcore power metal fans who love symphonic and orchestral additions will surely love this one for it delivers in that department for sure. I actually prefer the second album to this but this is by no means bad at all. A good but not outstanding release we have upon us.