The Lord of The Rings The Rings of Power

Before T. Rex assaulted the world with their glam rock party in the early '70s, there was the folk duo Tyrannosaurus Rex. Although both bands were fronted by flamboyant singer/guitarist/songwriter Marc Bolan, the earlier outfit was the polar opposite of the style of music that would later become synonymous with Bolan. Tyrannosaurus Rex originally formed in September of 1967 as a duo after Bolan split from his previous band, John's Children. Joining Bolan in the band was percussionist/bongo player Steve Peregrin Took, a gentleman that Bolan named after a character in The Lord of the Rings novel series. Bolan was so infatuated with Rings that most of the subject matter in Tyrannosaurus Rex songs came directly from the books as well.

Robert Rodriguez teams with Frank Miller to direct this follow-up to Sin City from a script by Miller and William Monahan based on preexisting stories along with new ones written for the big screen. Josh Brolin stars in the adaptation of the comic miniseries (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For), which tells the backstory of Clive Owen's Dwight character as he is wrapped up in the thralls of femme fatale, Ava (Eva Green). Also new to the series is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Johnny, a mysterious gambler set on taking down his sworn enemy in a high-stakes game of life and death. Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Jessica Alba, and Jaime King return for the Dimension Films release, with Jamie Chung and Dennis Haysbert stepping into roles left by Devon Aoki and the late Michael Clarke Duncan.

The eventual schism that resulted in the formation of Luca Turilli's Rhapsody and the termination of his former solo projects and association with his mainstay brand Rhapsody Of Fire could be seen as inevitable, insofar that with the conclusion of the second stream of episodes of the original Emerald Sword saga that some changing of the guard was in the works, especially considering the monumental feat of putting out 14 albums in less than 20 years…

Morgana Lefay remains to this day, a hidden gem of a band in the heap of turds that often over run what is called power metal these days. With super heavy riffs, raspy powerful vocals and shredding solos they are paralleled by few. This album, The Secret Doctrine, is the third from the band and shows them improving on their sound but running long on ideas in the end. Starting with another doomy mid-paced opener in "Rooms of Sleep" the album doesn't light a fire to begin with but begins at a high level regardless. Much like their debut the album has it's ups and downs but here we find more highlights along the way.

It truly is remarkable what one drummer, five vocalists and an author can accomplish. The outcome? A grand impact of exhilaration that has the listener so immersed into a parallel universe, that they don’t want to think about anything else. The record in question, that will no doubt cause all attention levels on everything else to drop and arise awareness to the sheer beauty the album delivers, is the new upcoming album titled “Voices Of Fire” for Acapella Metal troupe VAN CANTO….